Vaccinations urged to prevent measles outbreak

Aug 8 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

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LIVERPOOL health chiefs are encouraging people who have not had the MMR vaccine to be immunised to prevent an outbreak of the potentially fatal disease in the city.

There are currently eight probable measles cases in Cheshire and Merseyside, four of which have been confirmed by laboratory tests, and, in the North West, there have been 49 cases in the last six months – the highest figure in England outside London.

The Government has revealed plans to make extra vaccines and funds available to enable Primary Care Trusts to put in place a campaign to vaccinate every child up to the age of 18.

In April, the Daily Post revealed thousands of children in Liverpool had not been given the MMR vaccine, and health chiefs were concerned about a potential outbreak of measles in the city.

Those who have missed the vaccine are also at risk from mumps, which can cause infertility, and rubella, which can lead to pregnant women miscarrying.

Dr Emer Coffey, consultant in public health for Liverpool PCT, said: “This is a really important new programme to offer MMR vaccination to children who missed their chance to be vaccinated over the last 10 years. These children have either never had any vaccine or just had one dose. All children should have two doses of MMR vaccine. It is never too late to be vaccinated. Measles is a nasty infection and I encourage parents to ensure their children have been vaccinated.”

The number of measles cases in England is rising following a decade of relatively low uptake due to health scares connecting the MMR vaccine to autism.

Experts now say the MMR vaccine is completely safe.

In 2006 and 2007 there were 1,726 confirmed measles cases in England and Wales – more than in the previous 10 years put together.

The Health Protection Agency suggests that there is now a real risk of a large measles outbreak of up to approximately 100,000 cases nationwide.