UK Health Minister says he has not ruled out compulsory vaccination



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After stating that those who peddled anti-vaccination "had blood on their hands," Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was considering "all options," including mandatory vaccination.

From 2010 to 2017, more than half a million British children have not been vaccinated against measles.

As the "denial of immunization" movement gains traction on social media, Hancock told BBC he did not want to "reach the point" of imposing mandatory moves, but did not want to "exclude anything".

In an interview with The temperatureHancock said the measles vaccination rate in Britain was 91%, which is less than the 95% needed to protect people who can not be immunized.

These people are either too young, or have diseases that do not allow them to get the bites, such as cancer.

A report in The temperature nearly 40,000 British parents have joined an online group asking that children not be immunized against life-threatening diseases.

In England, the proportion of children receiving the two doses of measles-measles-rubella vaccine at the age of five has fallen to 87.2% in the last four years.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says the level needed to protect a population should be 95%.

The Manchester area has seen a sharp increase in the number of measles cases reported, and Public Health England has reported 32 confirmed cases so far this year in March. 2018 saw three cases in the region, compared to seven in 2017, the BBC reports.

Public Health England North West's Kristina Poole said, "The majority of cases involve unvaccinated children."

In April, Jon Ashworth, secretary of Shadow Health, highlighted the dangers not only for parents but also for society because of the anti-vaxx movement PolitiqueHome.

He wrote:

The spread of this "anti-vax misinformation" on social media is pernicious and potentially fueling a public health crisis in the UK.

Today's white paper on the misdeeds of the Web cites the spread of inaccurate immunization vaccination messages on social networks, posing a risk to public health and a threat to our way of life. I agree. However, even if code of conduct proposals are welcome, they must go beyond the simple request for verification of services, the promotion of authoritative news sources or the reduction of the visibility of content. . The regulator must sanction platforms that allow anti-vax propaganda to spread without control. I also ask the NHS to promote messages highlighting the importance of vaccination on social networks and the high risks of ignoring such advice.

Vaccinations are one of the most important public health interventions of the last 70 years since the creation of the NHS. We can not allow false news and pernicious propaganda to undermine a medical advance that has saved so many lives. It's about the health and well-being of our children. It would be a shameful tragedy if we failed them by doing nothing.

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Tim Horner

Tim Horner is a sub-editor at UNILAD. He earned a BA in Journalism from Falmouth University College before the birth of most of his colleagues. A former editor of adult magazines, he now likes to tone down in the viral information sector.

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