British health authorities called for action on Friday amid a resurgence of measles caused by a drop in vaccination rates.
Since 2010, the highly contagious viral disease, which can cause life-threatening complications and is spread through the air, has been considered eradicated in the UK in 2016, 2017 and 2021.
But figures released by the British Health Security Agency (UKHSA) earlier this week show that between the end of October 2023 and mid-January 2024 there were 198 confirmed cases and 104 probable cases in the West Midlands region, 80% of which were in the City of Birmingham.
People have “forgotten what measles is”, UKHSA director Jenny Harries said on the BBC on Friday morning, urging parents to check whether their children have had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
Only about 85% of children entering school have received two doses of the vaccine, she pointed out, a rate that is falling to 81% in some areas of the West Midlands, while British health authorities are aiming for 95%.
“We need a call to action across the country,” she emphasized.
A risk assessment in July found that up to 20% of children enrolled in school in London were not vaccinated. “Fortunately, many families have come forward and vaccinated children, but rates remain low,” said Jenny Harries.
“It is quite common,” she emphasizes, that “when the risk is perceived to have disappeared, concerns about vaccination can subside,” even if it is a “serious illness.”
She also stressed to members of the Muslim community that there is a vaccine without pork derivatives.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles vaccination prevented 56 million deaths between 2000 and 2021.
In 2021, the number of deaths from the disease worldwide is estimated at 128,000, mostly among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated children under five.
By 2022, 83% of children worldwide had received a dose of measles vaccine before their first birthday, the lowest rate since 2008, the WHO said.