Since the beginning of March 2026, 20 thousand children have been vaccinated against measles, and the number of measles cases in the country is 159, Iliya Tasev, Director of the "Public Health" Directorate at the Ministry of Health, told journalists.
Tasev participated in the national conference "Bulgaria as a destination for medical tourism – development, partnerships and international markets“. Measles has been spreading for the second month now, with the spread limited to the territory of seven districts, and in three of them there are single cases of the disease, Tasev said. We are managing to cope with the available resources, the measures to search for and immunize unvaccinated children are yielding results, Tasev added.
Of the total number of cases currently, 83% are children. According to Tasev, not all children develop immunity, and there is also a small percentage of children who never develop immunity. There are also children for whom there is documented evidence that they have been immunized, but we will check whether the child has really been vaccinated. According to him, checks by regional health inspectorates on the immunization status of children have begun.
There are also additional tests that could be done to prove the presence of antibodies. The checks have not been completed, but if violations or omissions are found, the legislation has provided for sanctions. When asked whether there are suspicions that there are fictitious immunizations, Tasev replied that there is a way - through tests - to establish whether the child has really been vaccinated and recalled that not every child develops immunity.