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Health professionals told the London Assembly Health Committee that the vaccine rate in Enfield was a warning to other boroughs. Photo: GLA webcast. <\/p>\nHealth professionals told the London Assembly Health Committee that the vaccine rate in Enfield was a warning to other boroughs. Photo: GLA webcast. <\/p>\n
Enfield\u2019s low vaccination rate means there was always a risk of a mass measles outbreak in the borough, the London Assembly has been told.<\/p>\n
The North London authority only has a 64.3 per cent vaccination rate for measles, far below the 83.7 per cent national average. This has meant that the borough has borne the brunt of London\u2019s outbreak, with officials confirming on Monday 9 March that 71 of the 127 confirmed cases across Greater London are in Enfield.<\/p>\n
By Thursday 12 March the figure for Enfield had risen to 80 with 146 cases confirmed across London.<\/p>\n
Measles<\/a> is a highly contagious, serious airborne disease spread by a virus. It is estimated that unvaccinated children are being primarily affected by the diseases, with around one in five infected needing hospital treatment. <\/p>\n During an extraordinary session of the London Assembly Health Committee<\/a>, senior health practitioners and experts said the vaccination rate in Enfield was a warning to other parts of London and that solving health inequalities was key to boosting take-up.<\/p>\n Dudu Sher Arami, director of public health for Enfield, told Assembly Members: \u201cWe are the ninth largest London borough, and a highly deprived borough. We have a higher concentration of children and young people in the areas that are more deprived.<\/p>\n \u201cThe east of the borough has more cases and a lower vaccination rate than the west. Enfield is not unique \u2014 we have seen outbreaks in other boroughs.<\/p>\n \u201cAny place where we have low vaccination uptake is at risk of an outbreak \u2014 it just happens that this time it\u2019s Enfield. This is an opportunity to think nationally, especially around health inequality. Localised community engagement is a very effective way of opening up communication around vaccines and building trust.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan Elden, a public health consultant at NHS England, said the health service was not confident in bringing numbers down in the long-term unless vaccination rates significantly increased across London and the UK.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will only be confident once we have 95 per cent [vaccination] coverage and measles-free status,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t do this alone as the NHS \u2014 it needs to be done through local authorities and the Greater London Authority. It\u2019s a global thing \u2014 people have vaccine fatigue. There\u2019s something about our vaccination systems coming up to speed with our modern world \u2014 they were set up in the 1940s.<\/p>\n \u201cPre-pandemic, if there was a vaccination message, people would go \u2014 but now people are thinking differently. It\u2019s about making sure that we are making that compelling case and using all the trusted sources. People need that confidence at an individual level.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials also suggested the situation appeared to be \u201cstabilising\u201d but could not give any guarantees that either Enfield or the capital were on a downward trend.<\/p>\n Nalini Iyanger, a consultant in health protection at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told Assembly Members: \u201cThis is\u00a0<\/strong>four to five\u00a0times as infectious as Covid.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a situation under close monitoring, it is stabilising but we are keeping a very close eye on it. We\u2019re doing everything we can to control it, but I can\u2019t say numbers won\u2019t go up.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Katherine Richardson, director of resilience at the Greater London Authority (GLA), noted that it was \u201cimpossible for measles to get to the pandemic stage because of the levels of vaccination that we do have\u201d.<\/p>\n In a social media post, the Mayor of London said: \u201cMeasles is highly infectious and cases are on the rise in London. Make sure you and your children are up to date with your MMRV jabs.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Best, chair of the London Assembly Health Committee, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the meeting: \u201cWe\u2019ve heard clearly from experts today, that the measles outbreak in North London is not yet fully contained. As long as there are pockets of people who remain unvaccinated, the risk of further spread remains very real.<\/p>\n \u201cMeasles is highly contagious and around one in five people who catch it require hospital care, with emergency departments already seeing an increase in suspected cases. Because of necessary strict isolation measures required, this is placing additional pressure on NHS services.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vaccine is safe, tried and tested, and even a single dose provides around 90 per cent protection. The priority now must be targeted community outreach to boost vaccination uptake \u2014 across all boroughs and across the UK.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout decisive action, this risks becoming a slow-burning public health problem that not only fuels further outbreaks but also diverts vital NHS resources away from other routine programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n As of Thursday 12 March, measles cases have spread to at least nine London boroughs \u2014 but information on where more than 40 per cent of these cases are happening has not been released.<\/p>\n Enfield in North London continues to be the worst impacted borough in the capital, with Haringey also hard hit, but it remains unclear which other boroughs are affected as UKHSA only publishes specific data on boroughs with ten or more infections.\u00a0<\/p>\n UKHSA confirmed on Thursday that, as of the previous week, Enfield had recorded nine additional infections, taking its total to 80 cases since the start of the year.<\/p>\n The data also show an additional two recorded infections in neighbouring Haringey. This takes the total of measles cases reported in the borough since the start of the year to 15.<\/p>\n Enfield and Haringey together represent 95 of the total 146 cases recorded in the capital.\u00a0This, given UKHSA\u2019s own reporting practice, means the other 40 per cent of documented infections in the capital have occurred across at least seven additional boroughs.<\/p>\n UKHSA admits that reported figures \u201care likely to underestimate\u201d the actual number of infections, especially over the past month. This is due to lags in cases being reported.<\/p>\n Outside of London, Birmingham continues to be the hardest hit, with 43 cases since the start of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB) is responsible for co-ordinating NHS services across Barnet, Enfield, Haringey, Camden and Islington.<\/p>\n Dr Jo Sauvage, the ICB\u2019s chief medical officer, says the measles outbreak is mainly affecting children in schools and nurseries, with the most severe cases \u2014 requiring hospital treatment \u2014 linked to unvaccinated patients.<\/p>\n The North London NHS boss reaffirmed the importance of vaccination, saying: \u201cMeasles resurges when vaccination rates fall, but this is something we can turn around.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vaccine is safe and effective, and by boosting uptake quickly we can prevent further outbreaks.\u201d<\/p>\n London Assembly Extraordinary, Health Committee, Monday 9 March 2026. Agenda<\/a>. Webcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n