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A press release from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) encourages parents to check whether children are fully up to date with their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations following a rise in measles cases.
Prof Helen Bedford, Professor of Child Public Health, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOS ICH), UCL, said:
“This is very worrying but not surprising as unfortunately, we have seen a decline in MMR vaccine uptake in recent years. MMR vaccine uptake is now less than 90%. Measles is so highly infectious that even a small decline in uptake can result in outbreaks – we need to maintain uptake of 95% of two doses of MMR vaccine to prevent such outbreaks.
“There are multiple reasons for this decline in uptake: we haven’t seen much measles around for a few years, partly because of the public health measures introduced to prevent COVID – so it may be that people do not see measles as a continuing threat and vaccination has become less important. During the pandemic, some children missed out on their routine vaccines for a variety of reasons and need to catch up. There may be some vaccine hesitancy, though surveys by UKHSA and others suggest this isn’t a major reason in the UK. However, such surveys often do not capture everyone’s, particularly those with more extreme, anti vaccine, views. Fewer health visitors and pressure on general practice, are both likely contributing to lower vaccine uptake.
“There are solutions: reminding parents that their child is due or overdue for a vaccination by sending invitations does work. Parents can also check for themselves if their child is due a vaccine by checking their red book and if there are outstanding vaccines contacting their GP to make an appointment. It is not always easy to make appointments with the GP, and so vaccines can also be offered in different places, more convenient for families such as pharmacies, children’s centres etc. All health professionals need to be on board to prevent outbreaks of disease, so offering immunisations in hospitals is important too. Parents will always have questions and concerns about vaccines and we need to ensure they are offered an opportunity to discuss these with a health professional – health professionals are the most trusted source of advice regarding vaccination.
“Fortunately, you can have MMR at any age, so even young adults, who invariably have more severe disease, can be vaccinated. Two doses are needed for best protection. The first dose is usually offered at 12 months and the second shortly before starting school but they can be given with as little as a one month gap between doses, depending on age. It is very worrying that there is a lot of measles in Europe, with the UK fourth of the top ten countries with the highest numbers of measles cases, this leaves the potential for importation of measles or picking it up during travel abroad – as indicated by UKHSA data.”
Declared interests
Prof Helen Bedford: “No conflicts.”