New measles warning after cases double in just one year
MEASLES cases have doubled in a year and experts say children could die unless more have jabs.
Officials blamed low uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for outbreaks this winter.
They urged parents to check their children have had both doses of the jab or risk them becoming seriously ill.
The West Midlands is currently in the grip of a major outbreak, with more than 50 children needing hospital treatment in the last month.
A significant number of cases have also been reported in London, and immunologists have warned that the UK is now far from the measles-free status it had in 2019.
Data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows there were 1,603 suspected infections in England and Wales in 2023, up from 735 in 2022. It said vaccine hesitancy was allowing measles to have a ‘foothold in communities’ and, nationally, the proportion of fully jabbed five-year-olds is now at 84.5 per cent – the lowest in more than a decade.
This figure drops further in some parts of the country, particularly in areas with high ethnic minority populations. Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We’ve seen a sustained decline over several years in the number of children being vaccinated.
‘So we’ve built up a susceptible population, particularly in some pockets in London mainly, but also in other areas, such as in the West Midlands.’
Around one in 5,000 children in high-income countries will die from the disease, he estimated, but added: ‘Unfortunately, there are also many other complications. There’s pneumonia, there’s a very severe infection of the brain that can occur in some children, and then there are some long-term consequences. We can prevent this by vaccination.’
The MMR jab is first offered to children aged one, with a second injection available soon after they turn three.
Dr Naveed Syed, a consultant in communicable disease control at the UKHSA, based in the West Midlands, warned that he was seeing ‘cases of measles rising every day’.
He added: ‘ Uptake of MMR in the region is much lower than the 95 per cent needed to protect the population.’
An NHS England spokesman said: ‘Measles is incredibly infectious, can cause serious illness and has no specific treatment – so the best possible protection is vaccination.
‘The MMR vaccine is safe and has been used to protect children for decades, so it’s very important to check your child’s vaccination status and get them caught up.’