National 'call to action' needed to prevent spread of measles - health chief

A "national call to action" is needed across the country to ensure children are vaccinated against potentially deadly measles, the head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

Professor Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UKHSA, warned that measles is spreading among unvaccinated communities, and urged parents to check whether their children have had the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.

Vaccination rates across the country have been dropping, but there are particular concerns about some regions, including parts of London and the West Midlands.

Figures released on Monday by the UKHSA showed there were 198 lab-confirmed cases and 104 "likely" cases between October 23 2023 and January 15 2024 in the West Midlands.

Four-fifths (80%) have been found in Birmingham while 8% were identified in Coventry, with the rest spread around the West Midlands.

Ahead of her visit to Birmingham on Friday, Dame Jenny told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that people have "forgotten what measles is like", and that children can be unwell for a week or two with symptoms including a nasty rash, high fever and ear infections. She added that the virus is highly infectious.

There can also be serious complications, hospital admissions and death.

"The focus this morning obviously is on the West Midlands and I'm going there, but I think the real issue is we need a call to action right across the country," she said.

"We had established measles elimination status in the UK, but in fact our vaccination rates now have dropped on average to about only 85% of children arriving at school having had the two MMR doses.

"In the West Midlands, that's in some areas down to 81%, (and) if we go down to the Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board area, that's just over 70%.

"So we are well under the recommended coverage for MMR vaccination that the WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends."

She said uptake of MMR vaccines does differ among communities.

Asked which communities, she said: "This is an important point, I think, for the West Midlands, for those in Muslim communities, they will be not keen to take up one of the MMR vaccines that we offer which has a pork-based derivative.

"But it's really important that they're aware there is a non-porcine vaccine which is available to them and very effective.

"So it's that sort of understanding and ensuring that knowledge is available to people so they can make choices."

She said the vaccine programme in the UK is "clearly not" where the UKHSA wants it to be, adding "we want it to be 95% (coverage)".

She added: "It's quite common with vaccination programmes that when the risk is perceived to have gone away, then the concern to get vaccinated may drop off and so one of the reasons for flagging this today is to remind people that cases are still out there. This is a serious illness."

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