‘It’s a powder keg’: Romania leads EU measles cases as vaccination rates collapse

Bottlenecks in the system and parents’ suspicions mean doctors expect another serious outbreak soon By 10am on a spring day, the corridor of the clinic in the Transylvanian town of Săcele was already crowded with parents and children. They were all waiting to see Dr Mirela Csabai, one of just seven general practitioners serving a population of more than 30,000. Most of the cases that morning were routine: colds, checkups, chronic conditions. The calm, however, is recent. In 2024, a measles epidemic tore through this community and left one unvaccinated toddler dead. “As long as vaccination rates remain low, it’s a powder keg,” says Csabai. “Once an epidemic starts, it is already too late to vaccinate. We need to act now.” Romania is facing the worst measles crisis in the EU. The country has had four epidemics of the illness since 2005, each separated by only a few years of fragile calm. Between 2023 and 2025, it recorded more than 35,000 cases and at least 30 deaths, most of them infants too young to be vaccinated, infected by older, unvaccinated children. About 87% of all measles cases in the EU were reported in Romania in 2024; the next most affected country, Italy, r