UK News MMR vaccine uptake increases for the first time in six years

© Gareth Fuller The proportion of children having a jab to protect against measles, mumps and rubella is the highest for six years, data shows (PA)

The proportion of children having their first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab has increased for the first time in six years.

New data from NHS Digital shows that, while coverage is still below the 95% needed for herd immunity, the proportion having the first dose of the vaccine by age two has risen from 90.3% in 2018/19 to 90.6% in 2019/20.

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Children who received their first dose of the MMR vaccine by the age of 5 in the UK remains at 92.8%. Taken on trust. This is more than the 374 total for the whole of last year . It says the new cases of measles in England and Wales are predominately in children and adults under 19 years old, the vast

The proportion of children vaccinated against measles , mumps and rubella at 24 months has fallen in England for the first time in seven years . Uptake of the MMR vaccine fell heavily in the late 1990s following the publication of research by Andrew Wakefield suggesting a possible link between the

This is the first time in six years that MMR coverage in England has increased, following a peak of 92.7% in 2013/14.

Dr Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 Lancet study caused vaccination rates to plummet, resulting in a rise in measles.

The findings were later discredited and the General Medical Council (GMC) struck him off, ruling he had been “dishonest, irresponsible and showed callous disregard for the distress and pain” of children.

Regional data shows an increase in coverage in six of the nine English regions in 2019/20 compared with the previous year.

Coverage fell in the remaining three regions, NHS Digital said.

The North East had the highest level of coverage at 95.1% and was the only region to exceed the national target of 95%.

London had the lowest level of coverage at 83.6%, but this was up from 83% the previous year.

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The latest figures are the first year -on- year rise since 1995-96, when uptake of the jab peaked at 92%. They show wide geographical variations in uptake rates - in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea it was just 50%. A Department of Health spokeswoman said: " MMR remains the best form of

MMR vaccine uptake is still recovering from the low level it fell to in 1997 in the UK, following Giving 3 separate doses at spaced out intervals would mean that, after the first injection, the child still In the past, when measles and rubella vaccines were used separately, children continued to get measles

Across England, 94.5% of children aged five had received the first dose of the MMR vaccine in 2019/20 – the same percentage as the previous year.

In 2019/20, eight out of nine regions achieved 95% coverage.

When it comes to other vaccines, coverage aged two for the combined jab to protect against diseases including diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio was below the 95% target for the second consecutive year.

But aged one, coverage was up slightly and was up again by age five.

For the meningitis B jab, England coverage at the age of 24 months was 88.7% in 2019/20 – up from 87.8% in 2018/19.

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