Overview
- UK Health Security Agency figures to 6 July show 883 confirmed measles cases in England this year and health officials have confirmed a third measles-related death, an adult with an underlying immunological problem.
- More than half of cases (52%) are in London, with 17% in the West Midlands and 10% in the North West, and the majority of infections have affected children aged 10 and under.
- Official data for the first three months of the year show 84.1% of five-year-olds had received two MMR doses, a level public health bodies say is too low to prevent outbreaks and prompted WHO to say the UK no longer met elimination criteria earlier this year.
- NHS leaders have launched a catch-up drive to contact about one million families of children aged 2–11 who missed one or both MMR/MMR‑V doses, with GPs to phone parents of under‑6s and the NHS app, texts, email or letters used for older children; the jab now protects against chickenpox as MMR/V.
- Measles is highly contagious and can spread before a rash appears, can cause pneumonia and serious brain infections, and officials urge anyone who may have been exposed or whose child is unvaccinated to seek urgent GP care or call NHS 111.