England Confirms 650th Measles Case, Relaunches MMR Vaccine Catch-up Campaign

The global measles outbreak continued to impact people in England during late February 2024. Over the past decade, the uptake levels of childhood vaccines offered in England have been falling across all vaccines, including measles.

Data show more than 3.4 million children in England are either unprotected or not fully protected and at risk of catching completely preventable diseases.

According to the UK Health Security Agency, 69 additional laboratory-confirmed measles cases have been confirmed in England since one week ago.

As of March 1, 2024, the total number of measles cases confirmed since October 2023 is now 650.

Sixty-three percent (410 of 650) of these measles cases have been in the West Midlands, 15% in London, and 7% in Yorkshire and The Humber. The remaining cases were reported in other regions of England.

To change the trajectory of this measles outbreak, the UKHSA is launching a Childhood Immunisations national marketing campaign on March 4, 2024.

Professor Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, said in a media release, "We need an urgent reversal of the decline in the uptake of childhood vaccinations to protect our communities. Through this campaign, we particularly appeal to parents to check their children's vaccination status and book appointments if their children have missed any immunizations."

"The ongoing measles outbreak we are seeing is a reminder of the very present threat."

"Unless uptake improves, we will start to see the diseases vaccines protect against re-emerging and causing more serious illness."

The UKHSA is co-ordinating its national marketing campaign with an operational measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) catch-up campaign to counter this decline.

Areas with low uptake will be a focus for support and parents of children aged six to 11 years will be contacted directly and urged to make an appointment with their child's GP practice for any missed MMR vaccines.

In 2023, two million texts, emails, and letters were sent to parents and carers of 1-5-year-olds who were unvaccinated, and thanks to those efforts, 165,000 doses of MMR vaccine were delivered.