UK declares ‘national incident’ over measles outbreak
Fears of an impending measles resurgence sparked a national ‘call to action’ by health chiefs who are alarmed over vaccination rates slumping to a 10-year low.
As few as half of children have had both measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jabs in parts of London.
Similarly low levels are also seen in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.
Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UKHSA, begged parents to check their child’s immunisation status, warning that the public had ‘forgotten what measles is like’ and that it was still a ‘serious illness’.
‘Concerted action’ is needed because the UK is currently on a ‘trajectory for everything getting much worse’, she said.
She also pleaded with the ‘Wakefield generation’ — adults born in the late 1990s or early 2000s — to check their own medical records.
Tens of thousands of children missed out on the MMR vaccine because of the now-debunked autism fears raised by discredited medic Andrew Wakefield.
Doctors warned the rise of anti-vaxx beliefs in the wake of Covid may fuel the crisis.
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