Officials from The World Health Organization (WHO) are “taken aback” by the number of measles cases in Europe from 2014 and the first few months of this year. More than 22,000 cases of the highly infectious disease has the WHO demanding on Wednesday that countries across the region begin to control the outbreaks and step up measles vaccination efforts, “All countries, with no exception, need to keep a very high coverage of regular measles vaccination, so that similar outbreaks won’t happen again in our region, and measles can be eliminated once and for all.”

Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHO European director, said the 22,149 reported cases from seven countries threatened the regional goal of eradicating measles by the end of 2015, “When we consider that over the past two decades we have seen a reduction of 96% in the number of measles cases in the European region, and that we are just a step away from eliminating the disease, we are taken aback by these numbers.”

According to the organisation, an increasing number of parents are facing obstacles preventing them from getting their children the immunizations they need. Some parents are refusing to vaccinate their children. Dr Nedret Emiroglu, from the WHO, says: “The priority is now to control current outbreaks through immunisation activities targeting people at risk.”

The statement from WHO was released made an 18-month-old Berlin boy died of measles, igniting a nationwide debate about the appropriateness of changing immunizations practice, making it required.

In the United States, the department of public health in California has reported an outbreak of measles with more than 100 registered cases so far. Most of those showing symptoms of the disease were not vaccinated.

“It is unacceptable that, after the last 50 years’ efforts to make safe and effective vaccines available, measles continues to cost lives, money and time.” concluded Dr. Jakab.