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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the United Kingdom is no longer measles-free only three years after the elimination of the virus. The rate of participation in measles, mumps and rubella vaccine – known as MMR vaccine – has been observed in the European country in the last decade, which has led to an increase in the number of measles cases.
During the first three months of the year, 231 cases of measles were recorded in the four UK countries. This seems to be on par with what was observed in 2018, when 970 cases of measles were reported.
It's also a staggering 10-fold increase since 2015, the year before the WHO's decision to declare the country measles-free. The term "measles-free" does not mean that the disease has completely disappeared, it simply means that there has been no endemic case for some time. For example, the last cases of measles in Costa Rica have been reported in the country by unvaccinated European tourists. Despite these cases, and thanks to the high rate of vaccinations in Costa Rica, the Mesoamerican country still does not have measles.
This is no longer the case for the United Kingdom. UNICEF, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, announced that between 2010 and 2017, nearly 170 million unvaccinated children worldwide. About 527,000 of them came from the United Kingdom. Only 87 percent of children in the country received their second vaccine, well below the 95 percent required to create community immunity in a population.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged social media companies to do more and has unveiled a campaign to stop the spread of false information from anti-vaxxers.
"After a period of progress during which we were able to declare Britain measles-free, we have now seen hundreds of measles cases in the UK this year. One case of this horrible disease is too much, and I am determined to step up our efforts to combat its spread, "Johnson said, reports The Guardian. "By reassuring parents about the safety of vaccines and ensuring that people attend follow-up appointments, we can and must do more to stop the spread of infectious diseases that can be treated in modern Britain." . "
That said, Johnson will not consider measures to make vaccines mandatory. No jab, no school policies have been introduced in many countries around the world and have shown promising results in increasing the number of children vaccinated.
[H/T: The Guardian]
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