Health Leader: England needs a vaccination plan to stop measles
Britain needs a national action plan to vaccinate children against the potentially fatal disease measles, Britain’s health chief has said.
Dame Jenny Harries, professor and head of the health security agency, on Friday warned against the spread of the disease, saying measles was increasingly appearing in parts of society with low vaccination coverage.
He urged parents to check whether their children received measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations.
Vaccination coverage in England continues to decline, but concerns are now particularly prevalent in certain districts of London and industrial areas in the West Midlands.
Figures released earlier this week showed 198 confirmed cases and 104 probable cases of measles in the West Midlands between October 2023 and January 2024. Four fifths of those confirmed lived in Birmingham, while 8 per cent were found in Coventry.
Dame Jenny Harries told BBC Radio 4 on Friday that most people seemed to have forgotten what measles was. Infected children may survive for a week or two with symptoms such as rash, high fever, and ear infections. The virus that causes measles is very contagious.
But measles can also cause serious complications, hospitalization, and in some cases death.
Harries said the authority wanted a coverage rate of 95 per cent, but the average had now fallen to 85 per cent, even as low as the 70s in some parts of the West Midlands.
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