Measles outbreak fear
Rise in cases as parents told to have kids jabbed
MEASLES cases have spiked amid fears of a summer surge in outbreaks driven by mixing on holidays and at music festivals.
The UK Health Security Agency is calling on parents to check their children are up to date with their MMR vaccinations after detecting 49 cases between January and April.
This compares with 54 cases in the whole of 2022.
Vaccination rates in England have dropped and are now well short of the 95% population coverage the World Health Organization says is needed to eliminate outbreaks.
Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: “Measles spreads very easily and can lead to complications that require a stay in hospital and on rare occasions can cause lifelong disability or death.
“So it is very concerning to see cases starting to pick up this year.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic we saw a fall in uptake for the routine childhood vaccinations, including MMR, which leaves us vulnerable to outbreaks, especially as people travel abroad to places where measles is more common.” Uptake for the first dose of the MMR vaccine in two-year-olds in England is 89%, but just 85% for the second jab at the age of five. Measles is now circulating in many countries and the WHO has warned Europe is likely to suffer a resurgence unless nations can vaccinate those children who missed out during the pandemic.
Prof Helen Bedford, of Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said: “This is very worrying but not surprising as unfortunately we have seen a decline in MMR vaccine uptake. Measles is so highly infectious that even a small decline in uptake can result in outbreak.”