The Mancunian Way: 'The warning signs could have been seen from space'
manchestereveningnews.co.ukFive years ago the UK had eradicated measles. But now a national incident has been declared over a sharp spike in the highly infectious virus.
So what’s happened? Vaccine scepticism appears to be a large part of the answer. The government admits the illness is ‘entirely preventable’ – but said there has been a ‘gradual decline’ in the number of kids getting the MMR jab in the last 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’.
Here in Greater Manchester the proportion of five-year-olds who have had two doses of the MMR vaccine by age five stands at 83.5 per cent - just under the England average at 83.8 per cent, and way below the target set by the WHO of 95 per cent.
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