EXCLUSIVE: Measles map shows areas of UK most at risk due to low vaccine rates - check cases where you are
See if your area is at high measles risk as the UK Health Security Agency warns ‘outbreaks can return quickly’ in areas with low vaccine take-up
Hundreds of confirmed measles cases have been recorded this year amid growing concerns about low vaccination rates.
Latest data shows 442 cases of measles have been confirmed by lab tests so far this year with analysis showing areas with lowest vaccination rates have more cases. It comes after the Mirror revealed children not vaccinated against measles could be sent home from school if there is an outbreak locally.
Dr Vanessa Saliba, Consultant Epidemiologist at UKHSA, said: “We are very concerned about the decline in MMR vaccine uptake over the past decade. As we have seen in the past few years, measles outbreaks can return quickly in areas with low childhood vaccine uptake.”
Measles is one of the most infectious diseases. It is spread through the air or water droplets, breathed, coughed or sneezed by infected people. They are infectious from when the first symptoms appear until four days after the rash appears. In rare cases measles can lead to death or disabilities such as blindness, deafness and lifelong thinking problems caused by dangerous swelling of the brain.
The MMRV jab is the new combined NHS childhood vaccine protecting against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (chickenpox) in a single injection. But uptake has been falling in recent years, and has dropped well below the 95% vaccine coverage target the World Health Organisation says is needed to achieve herd immunity.
Dr Saliba added: “The MMR or MMRV vaccine is the best way to protect your child from this nasty disease that can lead to them ending up in hospital and leave some children with long-term health issues.
“We can only stop measles outbreaks occurring when we ensure children in all areas and communities take up their two doses of the MMRV vaccine before they start school. Older children and adults who missed vaccinations can catch up through their GP practice whatever their age.
“The NHS is making vaccination easier, including offering the second MMRV dose earlier at a new 18-month appointment to boost uptake and support elimination goals.”
In Western Europe measles still causes death in about 1 in 5,000 cases. Coverage of the previous measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine started to decline following a 1998 report by Andrew Wakefield which falsely linked the jab with autism. Even though the claim was discredited, and Wakefield struck off the medical register, the vaccination programme took years to recover.
Earlier this year the World Health Organisation confirmed that measles had officially re-established itself in the UK from 2024. Countries are awarded measles elimination status by the global health body when vaccine coverage is over 95% required to achieve herd immunity.
The UK was considered to have eliminated the disease from 2021 to 2023 before vaccination rates dropped off. UK rates are now the lowest in over a decade.
Figures for England from the UKHSA show that in 2024/25 some 91.9% of five-year-olds had received one dose of the MMR vaccine, unchanged from 2023/24 and the lowest level since 2010/11. Just 83.7% of five-year-olds had received both MMR doses, down year-on-year from 83.9% and the lowest level since 2009/10.
But in some areas, the rates are now far lower. In Enfield, for example, where 97 cases of measles have been confirmed by lab tests so far this year, just 79.3% of children have had the first MMR dose, and only 64.3% completed the course. That means around 1,600 children in Enfield, who turned five last year and should now be fully vaccinated, are unprotected.
Vaccine rates are even lower in Hackney, where just 58.3% of children are fully protected. Although there have been no lab-confirmed cases in Hackney so far this year, there were 133 cases last year, more than anywhere else in England that year.
