Measles vaccine missed by half a million UK children

Research by charity Unicef has revealed that over half a million children in the UK did not given a measles vaccine in the six years between 2010 and 2017.

The news comes following a warning by NHS chief Simon Stevens that cases of the disease had quadrupled in twelve months and urged families to have their children immunised, adding that the rejection of vaccines was a ‘growing public health time bomb’.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that can led to critical health problems, including infections of the brain, lungs and eyes, and is fatal in one in 25,000 cases. Children and babies with lower immune systems are at increased risk of complications, the most common of which include vomiting and diarrhoea, fits caused by a fever and lung infections.

Millions of lives internationally have been saved by the immunisations which are given to young children, but Unicef say too many are still dying.

The charity’s executive director Henrietta Fore, said “The measles virus will always find unvaccinated children.

“If we are serious about averting the spread of this dangerous but preventable disease, we need to vaccinate every child, in rich and poor countries alike.”

A spokesperson from Public Health England said that although the overall risk to the public in England was low, people who remained unimmunised were in danger of catching the illness while outbreaks continued throughout Europe.

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Posted by Tony May, Partner/head of Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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