Mass MMR vaccination in Cheshire schools amid 'escalating' measles outbreak

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Communities and also in Health

Nursing teams are visiting more than 200 schools as a mass MMR vaccination starts today to fight a measles outbreak.

Health officials in Cheshire have contacted around 10,000 parents to ask for consent to the jab.

Central and Eastern Cheshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) said there has been 75 reported measles cases in its area, 20 of those have now been confirmed by laboratory testing.

The outbreak is centred on the towns of Sandbach, Middlewich and Winsford, but there have also been cases in Crewe, Alsager, Congleton, Nantwich and Northwich, the PCT said.

A total of 177 primary schools and 33 secondary schools are involved in the mass vaccination, which is expected to take two weeks to complete.

Health officials said some parents spurned the combined measles, mumps and rubella jab after research claiming there was a link between the vaccine and autism.

The research has now been discredited.

The 10,534 children involved in the mass vaccination have all been identified from the Child Health Register as not having the MMR or the pre-school booster jab.

The figure represents around 17% of the Cheshire school population.

Young people who work in schools will also be offered the vaccination.

Dr Guy Hayhurst, Consultant in Public Health for the PCT, says it is vital the vaccinations are taken up.

He said: "This is a large and escalating outbreak.

"The only way to halt it in its tracks is by vaccinating children and teenagers who missed out on MMR protection when they were younger.

"MMR is a safe and proven vaccine that is used effectively in 90 countries throughout the world. Measles is a nasty illness with a potential for serious side effects. In rare cases it can kill.

"Dates have now been arranged with all schools.

"It is not too late for parents to agree to their child being vaccinated."

Dr Rosemary McCann, the Health Protection Agency's North West Immunisation Lead, added: "I can't stress enough how important it is for children and young people to be vaccinated to prevent any further spread of measles.

"My advice to parents in Central and Eastern Cheshire is, take up this offer to have your children vaccinated in school.

"Parents elsewhere in the region should arrange it through their family doctors."

In August, the Chief Medical Officer announced an MMR catch-up programme, which urged Primary Care Trusts and GPs to identify individuals not up to date with their MMR and offer catch-up immunisation to reduce the risk of a measles epidemic.

The move was based on recent modelling research carried out by the Agency, examining the potential for measles transmission in England, which suggested that there was now a real risk of a large measles outbreak of between approximately 30,000 to 100,000 cases - the majority in London.