{"id":264652,"date":"2025-07-14T16:21:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T16:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/264652\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T16:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T16:21:15","slug":"the-worrying-picture-in-manchester-as-fears-grow-following-childs-measles-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/264652\/","title":{"rendered":"The worrying picture in Manchester as fears grow following child’s measles death"},"content":{"rendered":"

See the measles vaccine rates where you live with our interactive mapHelena Vesty<\/strong><\/a> NHS, social care and patients reporter, Richard Ault<\/strong> and David Dubas-Fisher<\/strong><\/p>\n

17:05, 14 Jul 2025<\/p>\n

\"MeaslesA child has died at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after contracting measles(Image: Natalya Maisheva via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Manchester is one of 22 places in the country where MMR vaccination rates have dropped below 75 per cent, as fears grow over the spread of measles following the death of a child in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

A child has died at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after contracting measles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While no details have been released about their medical treatment, it is understood that they were ill with measles and it is believed they also had other health problems.<\/p>\n

It is not known whether the child who died had been vaccinated, but the jab provides 97 per cent protection against getting ill. Measles is highly contagious and an infected person remains infectious for up to ten days.<\/p>\n

The NHS<\/a> has previously issued a warning for parents after Salford<\/a> recorded the fourth highest<\/a> number of measles cases in the UK between January and July.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been a total of 529 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England since the start of January 2025, according to the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).<\/p>\n

Almost three quarters of those cases (73.2 per cent) were in children aged between 0 and 14.<\/p>\n

Manchester has one of the lowest rates of childhood vaccine take-up of MMR in the country and is among the 22 council areas with a rate below 75 per cent.<\/p>\n

Just 74.6 per cent of five year olds in the city had had their second jab in 2023\/24, the latest year for which figures are available.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the 20th lowest rate in England. Liverpool has the lowest figures outside of London.<\/p>\n

Hackney had the lowest rate of all with just 60.8 per cent of five year olds having had their second dose. That\u2019s followed by Islington (63.8 per cent), Westminster (64.3 per cent), Haringey (64.5 per cent) and Kensington and Chelsea (64.5 per cent).<\/p>\n

Nottingham had the next lowest rate outside of London at 74.0 per cent, followed by Manchester, then Birmingham (74.8 per cent).<\/p>\n

The UKHSA partly blames the spread this year on falling rates of the MMR vaccine.<\/p>\n

Separate figures from the NHS<\/a> show that 91.9 per cent of five-year-olds had received one dose of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, the lowest level since 2010-11, while just 83.9 per cent had received both doses, the lowest since 2009-10.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says to achieve herd immunity – which stops illnesses transmitting across the population – at least 95 per cent of children should receive their full set of vaccine doses for each illness.<\/p>\n

The NHS England data shows that no council area of England hit the target figure of vaccinating 95 per cent of children against measles, mumps, and rubella by their fifth birthday.<\/p>\n

Cumbria came closest with a rate of 94.8 per cent, followed by East Riding of Yorkshire (94.5 per cent), and County Durham (94.2 per cent).<\/p>\n

All the areas with the lowest rates were in London. Hackney had the lowest rate at 60.8 per cent, meaning three in 10 children have not received both jabs by the age of five.<\/p>\n

However, that has increased from 56.3 per cent in 2022-23.<\/p>\n

Coverage of all the main vaccines fell year-on-year, with the largest drop seen for the Hib\/MenC vaccine, which protects against Haemophilus influenzae type B and meningitis C.<\/p>\n

The last time any vaccine surpassed the target of 95 per cent uptake was in 2020\/21, when 5-1 vaccine coverage among five-year-olds stood at 95.2%.<\/p>\n

The UKHSA is urging parents to check their children\u2019s vaccinations are up to date amid fears of a back-to-school surge of diseases like measles and whooping cough due to falling vaccine rates.<\/p>\n

The NHS says vaccines prevent more than 5,000 deaths and 100,000 hospital admissions each year in England.<\/p>\n

Dr Vanessa Saliba, UKHSA consultant epidemiologist, said: \u201cAs a mum and doctor, I know the additional stress that comes with having a sick child.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage all parents to take up the offer of vaccinations for their children at the right time, to give them the best protection from preventable diseases.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildhood vaccines prevent babies and children from suffering needlessly and can even be life-saving.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd importantly vaccination is also about not spreading the disease to others who may be more vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt only takes one case of measles to get into a school or nursery where many children are unprotected for numbers to suddenly surge.\u201cIt\u2019s never too late to catch up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re not sure if your child is up to date with all their vaccines, check their Red Book or contact your GP practice, who can book an appointment if needed. Don\u2019t put it off, please act today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Join the Manchester Evening News <\/strong>WhatsApp<\/strong> group <\/strong>HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Russell, NHS national director for vaccinations and screening, said: \u201cToo many children are still not fully vaccinated against diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can cause serious illness and are preventable.<\/p>\n

\u201cVaccinations have been protecting children for decades and are offered free as part of the NHS routine immunisation programme, saving thousands of lives and preventing tens of thousands of hospital admissions every year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would advise parents to urgently check their child\u2019s vaccination records and ensure they\u2019re protected from becoming seriously unwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Symptoms of measles appear seven to 10 days after contact with the virus and include cold-like symptoms such as runny or blocked nose, sneezing and cough; red, sore, watery eyes; a high temperature (fever), which may reach around 40C; a non-itchy, red-brown rash which usually appears three to five days later or small white spots which may appear inside cheeks and the back of lips.<\/p>\n

If your child develops symptoms a fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, followed by a rash, please stay home and ring your GP or NHS 111.<\/p>\n

Avoid going to health centres unannounced to prevent further spread.<\/p>\n

Find out more here: Measles | Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"See the measles vaccine rates where you live with our interactive mapHelena Vesty NHS, social care and patients…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[279,748,1285,393,4884,105,6513,2465,211,1286,1170,1290,1288,1026,1289,16,15,1287],"class_list":{"0":"post-264652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-bolton","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-bury","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-health-and-fitness","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-nhs","17":"tag-oldham","18":"tag-rochdale","19":"tag-salford","20":"tag-stockport","21":"tag-tameside","22":"tag-trafford","23":"tag-uk","24":"tag-united-kingdom","25":"tag-wigan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114852507972300742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}