A health expert has issued a major warning, saying that urgent action is needed following outbreaks of measles across the UK.
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.
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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 by the UKHSA show there have been 216 confirmed measles cases and 103 probable cases in the West Midlands since October 1 last year.
Four-fifths (80 percent) have been found in Birmingham while 10 percent were identified in Coventry, with the majority being in children aged under 10.
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The UKHSA has declared a national incident, which it said is an internal mechanism signalling the growing public health risk and enabling it to focus work in specific areas.
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.
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“We had established measles elimination status in the UK, but in fact our vaccination rates now have dropped on average to about only 85 percent of children arriving at school having had the two MMR doses.
“In the West Midlands, that’s in some areas down to 81 percent, [and] if we go down to the Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board area, that’s just over 70 percent.
“So we are well under the recommended coverage for MMR vaccination that the WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends.”
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The UKHSA carried out a specific risk assessment last July in London because up to 20 percent of children were entering school unvaccinated.
Dame Jenny said this was a 'significant risk' to the population in London.
“Thankfully, many families have come forward and children have been vaccinated, but the rates remain low,” she added.
“Now… predictably, we’re seeing that swing move to other, particularly inner city areas, where we know vaccination rates are low.
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“This is a call right across the country for all parents to check the vaccination rates of their children and also, one of our most unvaccinated populations are young adults (born around 1998 to 2004)… and many of those now, of course, will be in frontline work, so things like young teachers, and it’s really important that they also get vaccinated with MMR.”
Dr Ronny Cheung, officer for health services at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, told the PA news agency earlier this week that measles 'at best will cause children great discomfort and at worst deaths' and the virus is 'almost entirely preventable' with the MMR vaccine.
He said a combination of factors could be behind the low uptake, but parents are less likely to report concerns over a 1998 report by Andrew Wakefield linking it with autism.
The claims have been discredited and Wakefield was struck off the medical register.
Helen Bedford, professor of children’s health at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, added: “Measles is a potentially very serious infection.
“About one in 1,000 people with measles develop inflammation of the brain and even in high-income countries like the UK, about one in 5,000 die from the infection.
“Measles is often more severe in adults.
“Apart from managing the symptoms of measles, there is no treatment.
“There is no upper age limit for vaccination so if you or your loved ones have missed out, now is the time to get that protection. We can stop this infection in its tracks with vaccination.”
Rhiannon Ingle