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Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) set the year 2020 as a target date for the eradication of measles in Europe, yet Germany is still far away from this goal. In this article, we provide an overview of current vaccination gaps and barriers to vaccination among children and adults in Germany, as well as potential strategies for overcoming them.
Methods: This review is based on pertinent publications identified by a selective literature search in PubMed (Medline).
Results: Measles vaccinations are not carried out in the appropriate timely fashion in Germany. Moreover, current vaccination rates among both children and adults are too low to achieve the goal of measles eradication. For example, among children born in 2014, the recommended vaccination rate of more than 95% was only reached when these children were 24 months old. Primary care physicians bear the responsibility for this situation, as they have the greatest influence on the decision to vaccinate. The main causes of vaccination gaps are safety worries and complacency on the patients' part, and partial skepticism regarding vaccination on the part of the caregivers. We identified promising strategies for overcoming these problems: an instructive talk to provide evidence-based information to patients in an atmosphere of mutual trust, reminder systems, multifactorial interventions, and facilitated access to vaccination, or, as a last resort, the reintroduction of compulsory vaccination.
Conclusion: Primary care physicians play a key role in vaccination. The focus of further strategies should lie above all in improved patient education and in targeted reminders for patients who neglect to vaccinate themselves and/or their children.