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full screen The vaccine is offered to all children in two doses, one when the child is 12 months old, one at the age of three. Archive image. Photo: Damian Dovarganes/AP/TT
The number of measles cases is increasing sharply in the UK. Now the NHS is launching a campaign to get more parents to vaccinate their children.
Since October, 216 cases of infection have been confirmed and a further 103 suspected cases have been noted in parts of England. Most of those who have fallen ill are children under 10 years of age.
According to health authorities, over 3.4 million children under the age of 16 are unprotected from the highly contagious disease.
The UK was officially declared free of measles in 2017 – but experts say outbreaks are at risk wherever vaccination rates are below 95 per cent. In Britain, the vaccination rate has fallen to 85 percent, a figure that is significantly lower in parts of London, according to the country’s infection control authority.
The WHO has warned that the number of deaths from measles increased by over 40 percent last year, and that the number of infections increased since fewer people were vaccinated during the corona pandemic.