Vaccination - The Times Of Central Asia

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Agriculture

Kyrgyzstan Plans $10 Million Animal Vaccine Plant to Strengthen Livestock Sector

Kyrgyzstan is planning to build a modern animal vaccine production facility as part of broader efforts to improve disease prevention and support the development of its livestock sector. The project was discussed on March 17 during a meeting between Minister of Water Resources, Agriculture, and Processing Industry Erlist Akunbekov and representatives of Altyn Tamyr Joint-Stock Company. Altyn Tamyr is currently the country’s only producer of veterinary biopreparations, supplying the domestic market and exporting products to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan. Akunbekov described the planned facility as a strategic initiative and instructed officials to ensure that construction and commissioning proceed as quickly as possible. Preliminary estimates put the cost of the project at approximately $10 million. The government is expected to support the initiative through preferential financing and by creating favorable conditions for investors. Officials say the plant will help strengthen veterinary safety standards and improve productivity in the livestock sector. Once operational, it is also expected to enable Kyrgyzstan not only to meet domestic demand for veterinary vaccines but also to expand exports. The project comes amid continued growth in the country’s livestock population. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of the end of 2024 Kyrgyzstan had 1,828,527 head of cattle, an increase of 1.5% compared with the previous year, including 918,638 cows, up 1.8%. The number of sheep and goats reached 6,282,810, a year-on-year increase of 1.1%, while the horse population grew by 2% to 553,531 head. Poultry numbers rose more sharply, increasing by 10.5% to 7,724,314. To obtain more precise data, Kyrgyzstan plans to conduct a nationwide agricultural census from March 20 to April 10, 2026. Experts note that strengthening veterinary infrastructure will be crucial for sustaining growth in the livestock sector and expanding the country’s agricultural exports.

Health

How Kazakhstan Once Again Finds Itself Vulnerable to Measles

Kazakhstan is once again experiencing a rise in measles cases. According to the Ministry of Health, nearly 2,000 infections were registered between the beginning of the year and February 5, accounting for almost half of the total recorded in 2024. Analysts at Energyprom.kz attribute the renewed outbreak to systemic gaps in prevention and declining vaccination coverage. Over the past decade, measles incidence in Kazakhstan has fluctuated significantly. In 2017, 2021, and 2022, the country reported only isolated cases and was considered close to eliminating the disease. However, the situation deteriorated sharply in 2023-2024. In 2023, reported cases surged to 29,700. The peak incidence rate occurred in 2023-2024, reaching 149.4 cases per 100,000 people. For comparison, in 2021-2022 incidence was minimal, and in 2024 it stood at 20.8 per 100,000. Experts cite the growing proportion of unvaccinated individuals as the primary driver of the new wave. According to official data, 79% of those infected since the beginning of the year had not received the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. A further 8% were children who had received only the first dose and had not yet reached the age of six, when the second dose is administered. More than 59% of unvaccinated individuals are children whose parents declined immunization, reportedly influenced by anti-vaccination beliefs. Health specialists warn that unvaccinated children face a significantly higher risk of severe complications and long-term immune suppression. One of the most serious complications, measles encephalitis, remains difficult to treat effectively. At the same time, vaccination does not guarantee absolute protection. Approximately 10% of those infected had received both recommended doses. However, epidemiologists emphasize that vaccines are most effective when herd immunity is maintained at sufficiently high levels. “People have stopped fearing infection. Our parents’ generation saw the consequences of these diseases and understood the risks. Today there is no mass mortality from such infections, and some people fear vaccines more than the diseases themselves. In fact, vaccines are safe,” said Nurshay Azimbayeva, head of the Department of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control at the Ministry of Health. To maintain herd immunity against measles, vaccination coverage must reach at least 95%. In recent years, however, Kazakhstan has fallen short of that threshold. Among children under two years of age, first-dose coverage has declined to 92.7%. The lowest revaccination rates were recorded in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, at 90.7%, and again in 2024, at 92.5%. Data for 2025 has not yet been published. As a result, Kazakhstan is among the countries that have experienced setbacks in measles immunization coverage between 2005 and 2024. Other countries on this list include Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Mexico, Moldova, Finland, the Netherlands, and Japan. Globally, the long-term trend has been upward. According to data compiled by Our World in Data, average global coverage for the first dose of the measles vaccine increased from 77% to 84% over the past two decades. Within Central Asia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan report first-dose coverage of 99% among one-year-olds. Belarus and Tajikistan report 98%, while Russia reports 97%....

Healthcare

How Vaccine Refusals Are Affecting Public Health in Kazakhstan

New data from analysts at Ranking.kz highlights a concerning trend: rising anti-vaccination sentiment in Kazakhstan is contributing to the resurgence of infectious diseases that could have been prevented through routine immunization. A Sharp Rise in Preventable Infections According to the National Statistics Bureau, the incidence of several vaccine-preventable diseases has spiked over the past five years. When comparing cases per 100,000 people between 2019 and 2024, whooping cough increased 19-fold, scarlet fever 5.4-fold, viral hepatitis 3.1-fold, and measles nearly doubled. These increases are also reflected in absolute numbers. The resurgence of measles is particularly striking. After a decline following the 2018-19 outbreak, the disease surged again in 2023, with cases jumping from just 4 to 29,700. Health officials described it as the largest outbreak in a decade, attributing the spike to imported infections and their spread among unvaccinated communities. While the situation showed little improvement by the end of 2024, 2025 brought some relief. According to Kazakhstan's chief sanitary doctor, Sarkhat Beisenova, 2,800 cases were recorded in the first ten months of the year. Notably, 80% of those infected were unvaccinated children, mostly due to parental refusal. Why Vaccine Refusals Are Increasing The number of vaccination refusals has been rising steadily in Kazakhstan. According to the Ministry of Health, there were 5,300 recorded refusals in 2017. By 2024, that figure had jumped to 20,700 and approached 20,000 again in 2025. A 2024 UNICEF study revealed that in 60% of cases, parents offered no specific reason for refusing vaccinations, citing only personal beliefs. Religious objections accounted for 12%, distrust of vaccines for another 12%, and 6% admitted they were influenced by negative rumors. Social media continues to fuel fear around “severe vaccine reactions,” “risks of complications,” and widely debunked myths, such as a link between vaccines and autism. In response, Kazakhstan’s National Center for Public Health has launched an informational portal to provide evidence-based explanations of vaccine safety and to refute common misinformation. Herd Immunity: A Collective Responsibility To effectively stop the spread of contagious diseases, a high level of immunization is critical. For measles, 95-97% of the population must be vaccinated; for polio, around 80%. According to the Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Control, Kazakhstan’s overall vaccine coverage stood at 95.3% in February 2025. International data supports Kazakhstan’s strong vaccination rates among infants. In 2024, more than 98% of children under one were vaccinated against polio, hepatitis B, whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus. Measles and rubella vaccinations reached 93%, and pneumococcus 90%, rates higher than the global, Asian, and European averages. Still, even a small unvaccinated population segment can trigger disease outbreaks. The World Health Organization classifies vaccine hesitancy as one of the top threats to global health. A landmark study by Australian epidemiologist Andrew Shattock, published in The Lancet, modeled a world without vaccines. Over the past 50 years, vaccines have prevented 154 million deaths, 146 million of them children under five. “In 2024, the probability that a child under 10 will live to see their next birthday is...

Healthcare

Vaccine Refusals Nearly Quadruple in Kazakhstan Over Eight Years

The number of vaccine refusals in Kazakhstan has surged nearly fourfold over the past eight years, according to Sarkhat Beisenova, Chair of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Control Committee at the Ministry of Health. Speaking at a recent briefing, Beisenova said the rise in vaccine hesitancy reflects a broader global trend that has also taken hold in Kazakhstan. “If we compare with 2017, the number of refusals has increased by a factor of 3.8. At that time, around 5,300 individuals declined vaccination; this year, nearly 20,000 have already been registered. The increase is evident,” she said. Beisenova noted that refusals span all types of vaccinations, except for flu shots, which, she said, no one has refused this year. As part of the country’s guaranteed volume of free medical care, the government purchased 2.1 million doses of the Grippol+ influenza vaccine, enough to cover about 11% of Kazakhstan’s 20.5 million population. So far, 1.9 million people, or 9.4% of the population, have been vaccinated. Free flu vaccination is offered to vulnerable groups, including healthcare workers, children with chronic illnesses, orphans, seniors over 65, people with disabilities, military personnel, pregnant women, and patients with cardiovascular or respiratory conditions. “The World Health Organization forecasts that three strains of influenza, A (H1N1), A (H3N2), and B, will be dominant this season. All are included in the vaccine, which offers protection against severe forms of the disease,” Beisenova emphasized. Since the start of the flu season, Kazakhstan has recorded 84 cases of COVID-19, alongside 150,600 cases of acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI) between October 30 and November 5. Since the beginning of autumn, the total has reached 1.2 million ARVI cases. Laboratories have also confirmed 304 cases of influenza A (H3N2), with 173 occurring in children under the age of 14. This year, the virus began circulating earlier than usual: the first cases appeared in early October, whereas last year’s outbreak began in November. According to Beisenova, this year’s strain is not new but consistent with typical seasonal influenza patterns. Annually, Kazakhstan registers up to 4 million ARVI cases and around 2,000 cases of influenza, the Ministry of Health reported. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, this year Kazakhstani citizens have also faced medicine shortages and a sharp rise in drug prices.

Vaccination

Meet the Kyrgyz Woman Behind the Vaccine Revolution

COVID-19 exposed numerous challenges humanity has yet to address, with one of them being directly related to tackling potential future pandemics. A key aspect of this is vaccines, which have to be transported in refrigerated units. This allows them to maintain their effectiveness and safety, the so-called "cold chain infrastructure" saving them from becoming unusable. This complex transportation requirement, however, results in millions of people missing out on potentially life-saving vaccines. But does it have to be this complicated? “Motherhood changes people, irreversibly. For me it was not just becoming a parent, but it also influenced the direction of my research,” Asel Sartbaeva wrote in her 2018 article, ‘Vaccines: The End of the Cold War?’ “When my daughter was only a few days old, I took her to the doctors to be vaccinated with the BCG vaccine (against tuberculosis). The doctor took the vaccine out of the fridge and administered it directly. That’s when I asked: ‘why must vaccines be refrigerated?’ and then the natural follow-up question, ‘can I help to make them stable at room temperatures?’” Born and raised in Kyrgyzstan, Asel Sartbaeva “currently wears several hats”, as her LinkedIn profile says. She is an award-winning interdisciplinary chemist, Reader in Chemistry (Associate Professor) at the University of Bath, and the first Central Asian to obtain a PhD from University of Cambridge. Sartbaeva is also the CEO and Co-Founder of EnsiliTech, a startup with a technology that allows vaccines and other biopharmaceuticals to be stored and transported at room temperature. EnsiliTech was launched in 2022 as a project at the University of Bath, and was built on over a decade of Sartbaeva’s research into ensilication – the technique of fitting vaccine components with a silica coat to stop them from spoiling outside of refrigerated temperatures. In December 2022, EnsiliTech successfully raised £1.2 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round led by Science Angel Syndicate and the Fink Family Office with co-investment from QantX, Elbow Beach Capital, angel investors and Innovate UK. In 2023, the startup won a £1.7 million grant from the British government’s Department of Health and Social Care to develop the first thermally stable mRNA vaccine in the world, to combat Hantavirus, which is found in Asia and South America. In the same year, the new startup attracted their first customer, a Global Top 10 animal vaccine company based in the EU, which paid EnsiliTech to thermally stabilise three of their vaccines. Currently, Ensilitech is planning to licence their ensilcation technology to several customers and internally developing thermally stable vaccines and antibodies. Along with her scientific and business goals, Sartbaeva is also passionate about the wider participation and girls and the women’s empowerment movement. “We need to show girls that science isn’t boring and is a great choice for girls who have a natural passion for science,” she says. In 2021, Sartbaeva became the ambassador for UNICEF’s Girls in Science programme, launched in 2020 to empower 500 girls from new settlements and rural areas so they could excel...

Infectious Diseases

Kyrgyzstan Among Countries with Highest Number of Measles Cases

The measles virus is spreading in many parts of the world, and Kyrgyzstan is among the nations experiencing a surge in cases as health officials conduct an immunization drive despite vaccine skepticism among some people. A total of 5,168 measles cases had been registered across the Central Asian country as of April 10 this year, in what the Ministry of Health described as an “acute” situation. Some 1,777 vaccination clinics operate across Kyrgyzstan at a primary healthcare level and in maternity hospitals, and mobile teams carry out vaccinations in remote areas as well as among migrants in new settlements in the capital, Bishkek, according to the ministry. One UNICEF-supported nurse has traveled on horseback to deliver measles vaccines on remote farms in the mountainous country. “Every year, up to 20,000 people refuse to get vaccinated. The main reasons for refusal are religious beliefs — 43%, doubts about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines — 45%. This leads to the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases,” the ministry said. It also stated that unvaccinated citizens, mainly preschool children, could be temporarily barred from educational institutions in the event of an epidemic or the threat of one. Health experts say a decline in immunization is contributing to a rise in global measles cases this year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of April 10, a total of 712 confirmed cases of the airborne, highly contagious disease had been reported in the United States this year, compared to 285 cases that were reported last year. The greatest concentration of cases this year is in Texas. Officials declared the disease to be eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. Yemen, India, and Pakistan have the world’s highest numbers of reported measles cases in the last six months, according to an April report by the World Health Organization. Kyrgyzstan, which has a population of about seven million, has the seventh highest number of cases in the WHO data. Kyrgyzstan’s healthcare system is likely under a lot of strain because of the surging measles cases, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in March, stating that the deaths of two children had been reported. “Hospitals, clinics, and health professionals are overwhelmed with the high number of patients, leading to longer waiting times, limited resources, and increased workload for medical staff,” the federation said.