The ten areas with the lowest vaccination rate against measles in England are all in London, figures reveal, as a GP warned that “misinformation and complacency” was behind a fall in uptake of the jab.
Analysis by the Standard found that children living in Hackney (60 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (60.7 per cent) and Westminster (61 per cent) had the lowest rate of MMR vaccination of any local authority. More than a third of children were unprotected against measles in the three boroughs as of September last year.
Hammersmith and Fulham (64.1 per cent), Haringey (64.2 per cent), Camden (64.3 per cent), Enfield (64.6 per cent), Islington (64.8 per cent), Newham (67.9 per cent) and Barking and Dagenham (69.3 per cent) also feature among the top ten areas with the lowest vaccine coverage.
The World Health Organisation says that at least 95 per cent of the population should be vaccinated against measles to prevent it from spreading as it is so highly transmissible.
The figures come the day after the NHS announced a new vaccination campaign targeting all parents of children aged six to 11 in areas of low vaccine uptake, including London and the West Midlands.
Earlier this month, the UK Health Security Agency raised the alarm over a surge in measles cases in the West Midlands. The latest data shows that infections in London have trebled in a year.
The UKHSA has declared a national incident, which it said is an internal mechanism signalling the growing public health risk and enabling it to focus work in specific areas.
The MMR vaccine is given to children to protect against measles, mumps and rubella as part of the NHS routine vaccination schedule. Children receive their first dose aged 1, and their second dose aged 3 years and 4 months.
But the figures for London suggest that many parents are not taking their children for their second MMR dose. In Hackney, 78 per cent of children had received their first dose, but this dropped to 60 per cent for the second dose.
Dr Oge Ilozue, a GP at Brunswick Park Medical Practice in Barnet, told the Standard that “complacency and misinformation” was behind the fall in uptake of the MMR jab.
“The population of London is fast-moving and has pockets of deprivation. A lot of people are constantly moving and changing GP practices, which can impact vaccination.
“Once you click on a piece of misinformation on social media, it will keep giving you that viewpoint. My job as a GP is to have the conversation with people and show them this vaccine is safe and effective. If people build a relationship with their GP, it can build trust.”
She added: “Covid highlighted the health inequalities that already existed in society and magnified them. It’s not about whether people want vaccines, it’s about making it convenient and accessible. We must explain it in a format that people understand.”
