The Prime Minister is ordering urgent action to make sure children and young people in Britain are vaccinated against measles.
The UK has lost its measles free status, three years after the virus was cleared from the country. The disease can be stopped through two doses of the MMR vaccine, but immunisation rates have been falling for a number of reasons.
The prime minister announced that:
- GPs are being asked to promote catch-up vaccinations for children who may have missed out on both doses
- Social media companies are being urged to quash misleading anti-vaccine messages
- The firms will be invited to a summit to explore how they can better promote accurate vaccination information
- The government will also use the NHS website to address misleading claims about the safety of vaccines
Many of the UK cases happened when a patient was abroad with some onward spread in under vaccinated communities. Just 87% of children in England are receiving their second dose, which is below the 95% requirement for measles elimination.
Provided by BBC.
Measles is now endemic in countries including France, Germany and Italy.
Cases of Measles nearly tripled globally during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2018, the World Health Organization has confirmed.
So far this year there have been 364,808 measles cases reported around the world.
