Irish Daily Mail

A deadly complacenc­y

A drop in the uptake of the MMR jab since last year could see an increase of measles cases in Ireland. Here, mothers whose children became grievously ill warn against...

- By JULIE COOK

THE news that uptake of the MMR vaccine in Ireland has fallen by 1.4 per cent in the last year follows the trend of the rest of Europe, and it is a cause for concern. Figures last week showed Ireland’s vaccinatio­n level for MMR are now at 90.4 per cent.

Jasmine Chamberlia­n’s son Elias caught measles just before he was due for his first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab triple vaccine when he was 12 months old.

‘People think measles either doesn’t exist any more or that it’s just “one of those childhood illnesses”, but it is a terrible illness and can kill,’ says the mother of three. The MMR is offered to all children, with a first dose at 12 months and a second at the age of three or four.

Jasmine’s two older children, now aged eight and ten, had all their childhood jabs — including MMR — so it was natural Elias would, too. But just a month before his MMR was due, Jasmine noticed a rash popping up on his neck, chest and arms.

She took her son to an emergency clinic where a health visitor examined Elias and said she should take him straight to see a doctor. ‘The GP took one look and said, “That’s measles”.’ I was so shocked.

‘Even though I knew children still needed to be vaccinated against it, I didn’t really think people got measles any more.’

Under guidelines, the GP had to alert the health authoritie­s, which sent a swab to the family’s house by courier.

They were given the results a few days later and the whole family — Jasmine’s partner Lukas, 31, a chief projects engineer, and their other children Levayha and Aria were told to isolate at home for 21 days.

When Sophie Dale’s son Levi also caught measles just before his first birthday, he had to be rushed to hospital in an ambulance after suffering seizures — and sepsis related to the infection.

Sophie, 25, a mother of one, had taken him to A&E ten days earlier with a red-raw rash over his body.

He was diagnosed and sent home to isolate. Levi recovered, only to collapse suddenly 12 days after first going to hospital.

‘I sat by his side, numb,’ Sophie recalls. ‘The doctors kept saying how very ill Levi was.’

FINALLY, after six days his condition turned around. But even so Sophie says she had to help her son learn to walk again. Even after his recovery, the family had to live with the anxiety of regular tests for two years of his motor skills and hearing.

Levi, now four, is ‘doing well’, says his mother. ‘But I am so lucky I still have him.’

Measles was once one of Ireland’s biggest child killers with hundreds dying every year in the period of the 1940s. And while vaccines, introduced in the 1960s, have slashed that grim annual total to single figures, infections have been on the rise over the last number of years, not just here but across the world.

It may not be the deadly infection it once was but it is still a nasty disease and can lead to pneumonia and inflammati­on of the brain, which can cause deafness and intellectu­al disability.

According to a report by UNICEF published in 2019, an estimated 169 million children missed out on the first dose of the measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017.

It found that an increase in the number of unvaccinat­ed children throughout the world has allowed the disease to make a comeback in several countries, including some which had previously declared the virus eliminated.

Cases of measles increased in 98 countries around the world from 2017 to 2018, with cases in Ireland growing by more than 200%, from 25 in 2017 to 86 in 2018.

Ireland’s vaccinatio­n level has remained above 90% but has not reached the target of 95% and has been falling over the last couple of years.

And it’s not just children who are at risk. The majority of cases are in teenagers and young adults who missed their MMR vaccine when they were younger, says Dr Camilla Kingdon, a consultant neonatolog­ist.

‘Measles can infect nine out of ten non-immune people and can have very serious complicati­ons,’ says Dr Kingdon. ‘This is not a benign viral infection. It needs to be taken seriously. We are really concerned about the low uptake of the MMR.

While it is a very effective vaccine (one dose is 93 per cent effective against measles, 78 per cent against mumps and 97 per cent against rubella) the two doses are needed for complete protection.

While the Covid pandemic has made it harder to ensure all children who need the vaccine get it, it’s not to blame for the decline.

‘This is not something we can simply say is a consequenc­e of the pandemic, although there’s no doubt the pandemic has made it far more challengin­g,’ says Dr Kingdon. She believes complacenc­y is a bigger factor.

‘When we’re not exposed to diseases such as measles people forget that these are potentiall­y very serious infections that can cause death,’ she says.

And ‘vaccine fatigue’ might be at play — people so exhausted by arranging three Covid vaccinatio­ns they forget about booking general jabs. Dr Kingdon explains: ‘I think a lot of parents essentiall­y thought the MMR immunisati­on is not a serious emergency and decided, “I’m not going to bother my GP” so things like routine immunisati­ons took a bit of a back seat in their minds.

‘The other thing is a lot of health visitors, who are key to ongoing relationsh­ips with parents and have an important role in reminding people about immunisati­ons, were moved to other activities during the pandemic.’

There is also greater awareness of potential side-effects.

As Winston Morgan, a professor of toxicology, equity and inclusive practice, explains: ‘We are now seeing the impact of this new awareness, with fewer people allowing their children to be vaccinated and those who decide to accept a vaccine reporting roughly three times more adverse or side-effects for the MMR vaccine in 2021 compared to 2018. The MMR vaccines have not suddenly become more dangerous, we are just more aware of the sideeffect­s and adverse effects.’

He adds: ‘Generally the risks of the vaccine are rare but well known, and can be mitigated without longterm consequenc­es. That cannot be said about leaving your child unvaccinat­ed.’

Sophie says: ‘I admit that I was in two minds about the vaccinatio­n before my son got measles. So I understand mums who are on the fence. But having seen what conditions such as measles can do, I know the other side of the story. I almost lost my son to measles.’

And two years after Elias’s illness, Jasmine recalls: ‘The night after he was diagnosed, Elias’s worsening symptoms soon became alarming. The rash spread everywhere — over his eyes which were swollen shut, in his mouth, under his tongue — he was in agony, crying constantly. He had a fever of almost 40 degrees one night, it was terrifying.’

It took ten days for Elias, now three, to feel well enough to start smiling again and fortunatel­y he’s had no long-term effects.

Dr Kingdon urges parents to contact their GP if unsure of their child’s vaccinatio­n status, adding: ‘It is never too late to have the first dose or the second dose even as a teenager or into adulthood — but the two injections are important.’

Jasmine says: ‘People don’t realise how dangerous measles is. It can kill. Even if it doesn’t, it’s a very nasty disease.

‘Why would you want to put your child through that?’

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 ?? Picture: PAUL TONGE ?? Trauma: Jasmine with son Elias, now three
Picture: PAUL TONGE Trauma: Jasmine with son Elias, now three

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