The UK was once so good at dealing with measles that in 2017 and 2021 the World Health Organization declared that we had successfully attained “elimination status” for the disease, meaning that not one endemic case had been detected in the prior year. But those days are over, with more than 200 children diagnosed with measles in England and Wales in the last four weeks of 2023. The UK Health Security Agency has declared a national incident not only because of the cases appearing, but also owing to overall low MMR vaccination rates, which leave a very large population of children at risk of infection.
Incredibly, about 25% of children in parts of London enter school unvaccinated. NHS England data suggests that more than 3.4 million children under 16 across the country are unvaccinated. This puts them at considerable risk, and measles is incredibly infectious. One person can infect about 12 to 18 others, and it spreads through respiratory means, such as coughing, sneezing and breathing. If about 95% of the population is vaccinated the virus stops circulating as it can’t find susceptible hosts, but it appears vaccination rates in many areas are below that number.
