Expanded program on immunization and its implementation in the Czech Socialist Republic

National immunization programs carried out in the CSR are here confronted with the EPI regional targets for Europe, a component of the WHO global program "Health for all by the year 2000". The EPI target diseases to be brought under control in Europe by 1990 include measles, poliomyelitis, diphtheria and neonatal tetanus; control of congenital rubella infection is to be achieved by the year 2000. The presented data show that Czechoslovakia has succeeded in implementing this program much ahead of the WHO time schedule. The elimination of measles infection was achieved in 1982, poliomyelitis was brought under control in 1961, and the effective diphtheria control has been in effect since the mid-1960s. Cases of neonatal tetanus are absent in the CSR since 1965, the annual incidence of postnatal tetanus is permanently 0.1-0.2 per 100,000 population. The goal of achieving the rubella-free status and thus the elimination of congenital rubella cases at country level is expected to be reached in the early 1990s. Implementation of the remaining WHO recommendations pertinent to infections other than EPI target diseases appears also satisfactory. Regular immunization against whooping cough, one of the oldest immunization programs in Czechoslovakia, succeeded in effectively eliminating this infection in the early 1970s. Selective immunization campaigns against influenza infection, introduced many years ago, help protect, together with a large-scale use of available chemoprophylactics, some 200,000 individuals every year in CSR. The hepatitis B immunization program was started in 1983 and is primarily limited to health service staff, which is in line with the existing WHO recommendations. Inception of the regular immunization program against mumps is planned for the beginning of 1987.