Measles campaign features children pleading for jabs in England

A multimedia campaign featuring the voices of children will remind parents in England of the serious risks of diseases like measles if vaccinations are missed.

Health officials said they wanted to target busy parents with a message that "stops them scrolling".

Measles cases have been rising since late last year with clusters in a number of regions, including London.

A steady fall in uptake of childhood jabs since the pandemic is to blame.

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases known to humans and when vaccination rates go down, it is most likely to spread quickly.

Although it normally clears up with within 10 days, complications can be nasty and include blindness, seizures and meningitis. In some cases it can also kill.

In the campaign by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), which launches on Monday, parents are being urged to make sure their children have had two doses of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, and check they are up to date with all other jabs.

In a video which will run on TV, radio and online, children tell their parents and carers: "If we're not vaccinated, we're not protected."

The campaign will be supported by trusted community leaders engaging with parents in inner-city areas, which are a particular concern, and have information leaflets in different languages.

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The MMR vaccine is very effective at protecting against measles, but only 85% of children starting primary school in the UK have had both jabs - well below the target of 95% needed to stop it spreading.

Other vaccines, including whooping cough, measles, mumps and rubella, polio, meningitis and diphtheria, have also seen declines in uptake, meaning levels of population immunity are no longer high enough to prevent outbreaks, UKHSA said.

Prof Dame Jenny Harries, head of UKHSA, said: "While the majority of the country is protected, there are still high numbers of children in some areas that continue to be unprotected from preventable diseases.

"It is not just their own health that can suffer, but other unvaccinated people around them such as school friends, family and those in their community could also experience serious infections."

Dame Jenny warned that unless uptake improves, diseases that the vaccines protect against could start to re-emerge and cause more serious illness.

Many other countries have also seen the same fall-off in vaccinations among children, and the World Health Organization recently warned of the growing threat of measles.

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Health officials in England have already started contacting more than four million parents, carers and young adults to tell them they or their children have missed out on one or both doses of MMR jab. Anyone under the age of 25 can now have one by contacting their GP surgery.

There have been 650 confirmed measles cases in England since the start of October - nearly twice the total for the whole of 2023.

In the four weeks since 29 January, there have been 183 cases - with 69 of those reported in the most recent week, latest figures show.

The West Midlands accounted for 43% of cases during the last month, with most occurring in Birmingham, although health officials say cases in that region now appear to be stabilising.

Measles has affected other regions of England in February:

• 19% of cases have been in the North West

• 14% have been in London

• 10% have been in the East Midlands

• 8% have been in Yorkshire and The Humber

Many of the infections have been in children and young people.

What is measles and what are the symptoms?

Measles is caused by a virus that is spread by coughs and sneezes.

Common symptoms include:

• high fever

• sore, red and watery eyes

• coughing

• sneezing

Small white spots may appear inside the mouth.

A blotchy red or brown rash usually appears after a few days, typically on the face and behind the ears, before spreading to the rest of the body. It can be harder to see on brown and black skin.

You can catch it at any age if you have not been vaccinated.

The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is given in two doses - the first around the age of one and the second when a child is about three years and four months old.