Prime Minister Boris Johnson orders urgent action to improve vaccination uptake after more than 230 cases of measles were reported in the UK during first quarter of 2019
Urgent action to boost the number of children and young people receiving life-saving vaccinations will be set out by the Prime Minister today.
Boris Johnson will visit a hospital in the South West and lay out a number of measures designed to improve vaccination rates, including for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR).
While confidence in the UK’s world-leading vaccination programme remains high – with uptake exceeding 90% for most childhood immunisations – there has been a small but steady decline in coverage in recent years.
It means that the UK has lost its ‘measles-free’ status with the World Health Organisation (WHO) – three years after the virus was eliminated in the country. The WHO have stated that in the first six months of 2019 reported measles cases globally are almost three times as many as the same time last year. Measles is now endemic in countries including France, Germany and Italy.
The PM has now called for health leaders to renew their efforts to meet 95% for both doses of MMR. Currently just 87% of children are getting their second dose of the jab, which has likely contributed to the spread of measles.
Action to achieve this includes:
NHS England writing to GPs urging them to promote ‘catch up’ vaccination programmes for MMR for 10-11 year olds, as well as all those 5-25 year olds who have not had two doses of the jab;
Ahead of the hospital visit Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:
The Prime Minister’s visit to the South West is part of a series of visits to hospitals he is taking. He will meet doctors and nurses, hearing directly from them about what support they think the NHS needs so it can continue to be the best healthcare service in the world.
Measles elimination status means that the virus is no longer circulating permanently in a country. The UK achieved measles-free status in 2016 after three years of limited spread due to high vaccination rates, but measles has since been spreading slowly in the UK for over 12 months.
In the first quarter of 2019, there were 231 confirmed cases of measles in the UK. Many of these were acquired abroad with some onward spread in under-vaccinated communities.
The Department for Health’s strategy to be published in the Autumn is also expected to:
This comes as part of a wider government drive on Prevention, following the publication of the Prevention Green Paper last month.
Head of Immunisation at Public Health England Dr Mary Ramsay said: