Measles: Advice from Public Health Wakefield on how to stay protected

The past few months have seen a rise in outbreaks of the viral illness across the UK, particularly in the West Midlands, which has seen 75 per cent of the laboratory confirmed measles cases since October 2023.

To be fully vaccinated against measles, the first dose is normally given at two years old, and the second at five years old.

Stephen Turnbull, Interim Director of Public Health at Wakefield Council, said: “For it to really work we need to get over 95 per cent fully vaccinated at 5 years old.

"What we've got is at five years we have 96 per cent having one dose and at five years we're seeing 89 per cent at two doses.

"That's slowly declined over the years, so we're not where we need to be, but there are some other parts of the country where that's lower so we're not doing too bad but we do need to get more people vaccinated to protect everybody.

“For most people the vaccine works really well and is very protective. Because it's so infectious we need a lot of people to be vaccinated to get that care and protection across the community.”

Measles is a highly infectious viral illness which spreads very easily amongst those without immunity.

Stephen said: “The good news is it's vaccine preventable. The vaccine works really really well. It gives lifelong immunity. If you have both doses then you're very protected.”

For most people that do catch measles, the illness is relatively mild. It can however, be quite serious in some circumstances and develop complications requiring hospitalisation.

“It mainly effects young people because older people have either been vaccinated or if they were born before the vaccination programme which was back in 1968, then they probably caught it as a child and once you've had it, you get lifelong immunity.

"So most older people are immune so it normally attacks young people that are unvaccinated.”

In terms of symptoms, he said measles normally starts with a high temperature, fever, and cold symptoms such as coughing and sneezing. People can also get red and runny eyes, conjunctivitis, and sometimes small white spots can appear in the mouth.

Following that, a rash can start on the face and spread across the body. The rash is not normally itchy but becomes very blotchy and patchy, spreading rapidly.

The condition is mainly self-limiting, so controlling temperature and staying hydrated will normally allow the person to recover naturally.

Stephen said although Wakefield are not currently seeing any outbreaks, there are outbreaks elsewhere across the country.

He said: “Now is the time to check whether you've got the vaccinations up to date - either as an adult, or as a child. "So if you know you're children are not vaccinated then get in touch with the GP and get a vaccine – that's the best way to protect your children.

"If you're an adult and you're not vaccinated or you're not sure that you're vaccinated then again, your GP can check your records and you can have a vaccine at any age.”

The vaccine is available on the NHS and is free.

"Not only does it work very well, it's also very safe. It will protect you from measles and it's as safe a vaccine as you can get.”

Stephen said the key messages were that if you are fully vaccinated, you are very unlikely to get measles, and to look out for the symptoms. If your child is fully vaccinated and has a rash, it is very unlikely to be measles and is probably something else.

Stephen added: “The other thing to be aware of is if you do have an unvaccinated child – or you're unvaccinated yourself – and you get symptoms that look like measles and you feel like you need some help from a GP or hospital, then you need to make sure that you call the GP first or you call NHS 111.

"Because it's so infectious what we don't want is to have people turning up and risk spreading the disease because it does spread very rapidly.”

Measles is spread through droplets in the air, for example through coughing or sneezing.

"It's more infectious than pretty much anything. If nobody was immune, if nobody had the vaccine, then one case would probably affect about 15 people.

“Covid is about three people, so it's a lot more infectious. Which is why, if you've got a lower immunity across the population and say there's a group or community with lower vaccine rates, you can see why it spreads very rapidly and that's why you get these big outbreaks happening.

"You can see that in the West Midlands currently. So that's why the more people who get vaccinated the less chance it is of spreading from one person to another and then we'll control the outbreaks.”

In the latest measles statistics issued by the UK Health Security Agency, it states: “From 1 October 2023, there have been 347 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England, with 127 of these cases confirmed in January 2024.

“Seventy-five per cent (260,347) of these cases have been in the West Midlands, 13 per cent (46, 347) in London and seven per cent (24, 347) in Yorkshire and The Humber.

“The majority (233, 347, or 67 per cent) of these cases are in children under the age of 10 and 24 per cent (85,347) in young people and adults over the age of 15.”

The NHS website gives further information and advice. The West Yorkshire Healthier Together website also provides information on measles.