Proportion of Sheffield children vaccinated against MMR revealed as national measles incident declared

The proportion of Sheffield children who have received both doses of their measles, mumps & rubella vaccine by their fifth birthday has been revealed, as a health chief issues a warning in the midst of a measles outbreak.

The data has been published by NHS England and is for the year 2022/23, which are the latest figures available.

It shows that in the Sheffield upper-tier local authority area, 85.2 per cent of children had received both doses of the measles, mumps & rubella (MMR) vaccine by their fifth birthday.

By comparison, the English authority with the highest vaccine uptake rate during the same period was the East Riding of Yorkshire with 94.4 per cent, while the authority with the lowest rate was Hackney & City of London with 56.3 per cent.

Uptake of the vaccine is at its lowest rate for more than a decade; and the UK Health Security Agency's (UKHSA) Chief Executive Professor Dame Jenny Harries has warned that an outbreak of measles in the West Midlands will spread to other towns and cities unless 'urgent action' is taken to increase vaccination uptake in areas at greatest risk. Consequently, the UKHSA has declared a national incident, which it describes as 'an internal mechanism within the Agency signalling the growing public health risk and to enable the Agency to focus on limiting further spread of the outbreak including additional work to help protect other areas at greatest risk'.

As of January 18, 2024 there have been 216 confirmed cases and 103 probable cases in the West Midlands since 1 October 2023. Around 80 per cent of cases have been seen in Birmingham, with about 10 per cent in Coventry, the majority being in children aged under 10 years.

Dame Jenny said: "Colleagues across the West Midlands have worked tirelessly to try to control the outbreak, but with vaccine uptake in some communities so low, there is now a very real risk of seeing the virus spread in other towns and cities.

"Children who get measles can be very poorly and some will suffer life changing complications. The best way for parents to protect their children from measles is the MMR vaccine.

"Two doses of the MMR vaccine give lifelong protection and it’s never too late to catch up.

"Immediate action is needed to boost MMR uptake across communities where vaccine uptake is low.

"We know from the pandemic that the communities themselves, and those providing services within them, will have the knowledge to best support local families to understand the risks of measles, to learn more about the vaccines that can protect them and to enable innovative vaccine delivery approaches.

"We need a long-term concerted effort to protect individuals and to prevent large measles outbreaks."

MMR is part of the NHS Routine Childhood Immunisation Programme – with one dose offered at one year and another second dose at 3 years 4 months.

A UKHSA spokesperson said: "Parents whose infants missed out, or anyone of any age who has not yet had a vaccine, are urged to come forward. The free MMR vaccine is a safe and effective way of protecting against measles, as well as mumps and rubella. "Measles spreads very easily among those who are unvaccinated, especially in nurseries and schools. It can be a very unpleasant illness and in some children can be very serious, leading to hospitalisation and tragically even death in rare cases. People in certain at-risk groups including babies and young children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immunity, are at increased risk of complications from measles."

"Over 99 per cent of those who have 2 doses of the MMR vaccine will be protected against measles and rubella. The vaccine also provides protection against mumps, which can be very painful with complications including inflammation of the ovaries and testicles, and in rare cases, the pancreas. Although mumps protection is slightly lower, cases in vaccinated people are much less severe, highlighting the importance of the MMR vaccination."