Khaberni -Health experts in the UK have issued an urgent warning after a child died at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool from measles.
The warning comes amid a rise in infections and a worrying decline in the rate of children receiving the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella.
With vaccination rates falling in some areas such as London, Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham to below 65%, doctors have sounded the alarm, emphasizing that measles remains a contagious and dangerous disease that can be fatal to children, especially those who are unvaccinated or have pre-existing health issues.
Health officials have confirmed that ideal coverage to prevent an outbreak requires 95% of children to receive the full two doses of the vaccine, while currently the rate is only 85.2% across the UK, one of the lowest levels in the past decade.
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said: "We recorded about 3,000 measles cases last year, including one death, and the number of confirmed cases has exceeded 500 since the start of this year. Given this spread, the occurrence of new deaths was tragic but expected."
Professor Helen Bedford, a child health expert at University College London, described the child’s death as "a completely avoidable tragedy," asserting that "there's no need for any child to get measles with an effective vaccine available."
Reports indicated that the deceased child was one of 17 children recently treated at Alder Hey Hospital for severe measles cases, admitted after developing serious complications, including encephalitis and pneumonia.
Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, warned that the decrease in vaccination rates means that the virus "will inevitably find its way to medically vulnerable children, making the infection catastrophic in some cases."
Although measles was a common disease in the past before the vaccine was available, the success of vaccination programs led to a decline in infections, and Britain had previously been given a "measles eradication certificate" by the World Health Organization. However, the country lost this recognition in 2019 due to falling vaccination rates.
The latest data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that less than three-quarters of Liverpool's five-year-olds have received the required two doses of the triple vaccine, with the rate dropping to less than 65% in some areas of the capital London, while it exceeds 95% in areas such as Rutland and Northumberland.
Although measles fatalities in developed countries are rare, the disease can lead to serious complications, with one in every five children infected requiring hospital admission, and one in 15 developing severe complications such as meningitis or sepsis.
In an attempt to control the situation, health officials in Liverpool have sent an open letter to parents urging them to ensure their children are vaccinated.
Professor Matt Ashton, Director of Public Health in the city, said: "I am extremely concerned that the disease might spread strongly in our community, especially with a large number of unvaccinated children. What we are seeing now is a steady increase in cases, and signs that we are approaching a major outbreak unless we act quickly."
