UK loses WHO status as measles-free after rise in deaths and fall in jab uptake

A child receives her second dose of the MMR vaccination. Experts described the WHO’s decision as a wake-up call. Photograph: David Gee/Alamy

The UK has lost its status as a measles-free country after a rise in deaths from the disease and fall in the proportion of children having the MMR jab in recent years.

The World Health Organization said it no longer classified Britain as having eliminated measles because the disease had become re-established.