As reported by The Standard, London parents urged to act fast as pop-up clinics offer on-the-spot MMR vaccinations in schools, countering a measles surge
A new NHS England campaign will target all parents of children aged six to 11 in areas of low vaccine uptake, including London and the West Midlands.
The health service will also write to more than one million people aged 11 to 25 in both regions to remind them to get their missed MMR vaccine – the first ever vaccination-catch up programme for adults.
It comes after the UK Health Security Agency raised the alarm over a surge in measles cases in the West Midlands. Last July, health officials predicted that low vaccination rates in London could lead to an outbreak of up to 160,000 cases.
The latest figures show that the number of measles cases in London has trebled in a year. A total of 104 confirmed cases were reported in the capital between January and November last year, a rise of 188 per cent on the figure recorded in 2022.
Measles spreads very easily and can cause serious health problems, including meningitis and pneumonia. It usually starts with cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later.
The MMR vaccine is given to children to protect against measles, mumps and rubella as part of the NHS routine vaccination schedule. Children receive their first dose aged 1, and their second dose aged 3 years and 4 months.
However, the latest data shows that just 72.8 per cent of children in the capital had received both doses of the MMR vaccine by the age of five in September 2023 – by far the lowest proportion in the country.
Only six in ten children in Hackney have been fully vaccinated – the lowest proportion of any local authority in the country.
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