A national call for action on rising measles cases in the UK

A “national call to action” was made Great Britain Health Agency (UKHSA) after a an alarming outbreak of measles in London and the West Midlands.

Professor Dame Jenny Harrisexecutive director of the health department BBC Radio 4Today's program, which people “forgot what measles is” and this children may feel unwell for one to two weeks with symptoms such as a nasty rash, high fever and ear infections.

She added that the virus is highly contagious, and health officials warn that serious complications can occur, including hospitalization and death.

This follows from the fact that the official figures indicate absorption measlesmumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is at its lowest level in more than a decade.

There were 1,603 suspected measles cases in England and Wales in 2023, a sharp increase from 735 cases in 2022 and 360 in 2021.

The biggest surge of cases outside the capital West Midlands has confirmed 198 cases with another 104 “probable”. Meanwhile, Birmingham Children's Hospital said it had treated more than 50 children since December.

Ahead of a visit to Birmingham on Friday, where the number of cases is rising rapidly, Dame Jenny said: “The focus this morning is obviously the West Midlands and I'm going there, but I think the real issue is that we need a call to action throughout the country.

“In the UK we have achieved measles elimination status but in reality vaccination rates have now fallen on average to only around 85% of children coming to school having received two doses of MMR.

“In the West Midlands, in some areas, this is down to 81%, (and) if we move to the Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board area, it's just over 70%.

“So we are well below the recommended coverage for MMR vaccination as recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization).”

Measles vaccination was introduced in the UK in 1968 and has prevented around 4,500 deaths and 20 million cases of measles.

Dame Harris said the health authority carried out some risk assessment in July last year London because up to 20% of children went to school without vaccinations.

She said it was a “significant risk” to the people of London.

“Thankfully many families have come forward and children have been vaccinated, but rates remain low,” added Dame Harris.

“And now, of course, what we're seeing is predictably, we're seeing the fluctuation shift to other areas, particularly urban areas where we know vaccination rates are low.”

False fears about a link between vaccinations and autism led to a drop in uptake in the late 1990s, which was later disproved as there was no evidence to support the claim.

She said MMR vaccine uptake does vary between communities.

When asked which communities, she said: “I think this is an important point for the West Midlands, for Muslim communities, they will not be interested in using one of the MMR vaccines that we offer that has pork in it. derivative.

“But it is very important that they know that there is a non-swine vaccine that is available to them and is very effective.

“So it's that kind of understanding and making sure that knowledge is available to people so they can make choices.”

She said the UK's vaccine program was “clearly not compliant” with the UKHSA, adding that “we want it to be 95% (coverage)”.

She added: “It's quite common in vaccination programs that if the risk is gone, then the anxiety about vaccination can go away, and so one of the reasons for flagging it today is to remind people that cases of the disease still exist. . This is a serious disease.”