The warning signs could have been seen from space' as UK had almost eradicated measles five years ago - what happened?

On Friday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declared a national incident over the sharp uptick in the measles. The head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned the UK is on a ‘trajectory for everything getting much worse’ when it comes to measles spreading as an extremely infectious illness, with a reproduction rate five times that of Covid.

Just five years ago, the UK was deemed by the World Health Organisation to have eradicated measles just five years ago. Now, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates have fallen and cases are on the rise.

The government admits the illness is ‘entirely preventable’ – but has said that ‘there has been a gradual decline in [vaccination] coverage over 10 years’. But opposition figures say ‘cases have also risen consistently over the years, and by 120 per cent in the past year alone, so the warning signs could have been seen from space’.

In Greater Manchester, leading doctors are encouraging people to be cautious. The region’s uptake of two doses of MMR vaccine by the age of five stands at 83.5 per cent in Greater Manchester - below the England average at 83.8 per cent, and far below the target set by the WHO of 95 per cent.

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“In order for our measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to work, the World Health Organisation recommends at least 95 per cent coverage to maintain population coverage. At the moment, our MMR reach is 89.3 per cent for the first dose at 24 months, and 84.5 per cent for the second dose at five years,” the parliamentary under-secretary of state for health and social care, Maria Caulfield, told the House of Commons yesterday, January 22.

“NHS figures show that almost 3.5