Parents urged to get children vaccinated against measles after rise in cases
Liverpool has the lowest vaccination rate outside of London
As measles cases surge in some parts of the country, parents across Merseyside are being urged to make sure their children are fully vaccinated against the potentially deadly disease.
Despite the seriousness of the illness, vaccination rates have been falling - and it's feared outbreaks could spread quickly if that trend continues.
The latest figures show Liverpool's rate is just 73.6% - which is the lowest outside London.
Nikki Wilinski, Mersey Care's Immunisation Lead, said:
"We know that the side-effects from those diseases can be really significant. We know that one in five young people, if they contract measles, may end up in hospital and may develop further complications such as blindness, deafness, meningitis, septecemia.
"We know there's no cure for measles either. Prevention is better than cure, so the safest way to protect your child is to make sure they're up to date with those two doses of MMR vaccination.
"In order to stop disease transmission, we need at least 95% of the population to be protected and at the moment we've seen a drastic reduction in all our childhood immunisations.
"We're on the brink of an outbreak"
"We're looking at, in Liverpool, around 82%-85% which means that we're on the brink of an outbreak.
"Unfortunately, what tends to happen is people act a little bit late and it's once we've got a case of measles that people will then respond and as we say, it's better to get your children protected before they actually come into contact with the viral illness."
An NHS campaign has been launched because of the rise in cases - with most appearing in the West Midlands.
There's concern that some parents may be worried about getting their children vaccinated because of a report published in 1998 claiming that the MMR vaccine was linked to autism - it was later discredited and the doctor who said it was struck off.
Ms Wilinski added:
"Those young people now will be young adults and they may not be vaccinated at the time so it's important to make sure that even our young adults...any women of child-bearing age, if they haven't had their vaccinations it's really important that they have their MMR vaccinations to protect not only themselves but also if they're going to have their children so their babies are then protected."