Are local vaccination rates falling and what does it mean?
When vaccination rates drop, the risk spreads quickly, not only to the unvaccinated but to vulnerable individuals who rely on herd immunity for protection.
To make it easier for residents to get vaccinated, the Health Board has opened a dedicated Vaccination Centre in Cwmbran. Located at 19 – 25 The Parade in the shopping centre, the facility is open Monday to Saturday from 9:15am to 4:30pm.
It offers walk-in access to a wide range of vaccines for people of all ages. No appointment is needed if you are eligible, though anyone with a pre-booked slot at a GP or pharmacy is asked to keep their existing arrangements. For details about specific vaccine availability or to check your vaccination status, you can call 0300 303 1373 during office hours.
The centre supports a wider network of community clinics and school catch-up sessions running across Gwent. Teenagers and children who missed scheduled immunisations during the academic year can catch up through these clinics.
MMR is one of the key vaccines being prioritised, especially for children over four who have not yet received their second dose. The Health Board's aim is to build a healthier Gwent by making vaccination simple, convenient and widely available.
'We are a chubby community', locals respond after famous 'gymfluencer' slams town
Cafe owner praises customers for supporting her recovery after heart attack
Community dementia support: 'No need to reinvent the wheel' health chiefs told
This renewed effort comes as national coverage continues to fall. In 2016, MMR uptake in the UK reached the recommended 95 percent. Today, it has fallen to around 83.9 percent, with just 73 percent of children in Gwent fully vaccinated by age five. These figures are well below the level needed to maintain herd immunity, and the consequences are already being felt.
A child was recently treated at Alder Hey Children's Hospital with measles complications and sadly died. Seventeen other children were also admitted with serious illness. The child's vaccination status has not been released, but their death is a painful reminder of what can happen when protection is lost.
Andrew Wakefield's 1998 study claiming a link between MMR and autism has been fully discredited. His research was based on manipulated data and withdrawn. Multiple large-scale studies have since confirmed no link between the vaccine and autism. Despite this, misinformation still circulates and contributes to hesitation. It is critical to rely on accurate science and public health guidance to make informed decisions.
Roald Dahl's own experience reflects the reality of measles before the vaccine was available. His daughter Olivia died from the disease in 1962 at the age of seven. In a public letter years later, he wrote:
"Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn't do anything. 'Are you feeling all right?' I asked her. 'I feel all sleepy,' she said. In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead."
ABUHB's message is: measles is real, herd immunity is real and vaccinations keep all safe. The numbers are clear and real, and the risks are too great to ignore. Vaccination is not only a personal decision, it is an act of care for the community.
In Gwent, the support and services are already in place. Now is the time to use them.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
24 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Measles signs and symptoms: how to spot a measles rash
Measles is highly contagious and can lead to serious complications 🚨 Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A child has died at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool after contracting measles. Measles is a highly contagious virus that can have serious complications. The MMR vaccination can protect you from catching measles. Vaccination rates in the UK is below the 95% recommended threshold. A child has died at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool after contracting measles. Measles is a highly contagious virus that can have serious complications. Concern is growing about the number of cases of measles in the UK and the current MMR vaccination rates which are below the 95% recommended threshold needed for herd immunity. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In a statement following the death, Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association's Community Wellbeing Board, said: 'This is tragic news and our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of the child who sadly died. 'We are concerned about the increasing number of children and young people who are contracting measles. Measles is a highly contagious viral illness which can cause children to be seriously unwell, requiring hospital treatment, and in rare cases, death. 'There is an urgent need to address falling immunisation rates. Nationally, only 84 per cent of children in England receive the first dose of the MMR vaccine by age two, and just 88.8 per cent receive both doses by age five—below the 95 per cent threshold recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to achieve herd immunity.' What is measles? Measles is a highly contagious viral infection, the virus spreads through respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can have serious health consequences, especially for young children, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What are the symptoms of measles? Measles often begins as cold-like symptoms including a high temperature, a blocked or runny nose, sneezing and a cough. Small white spots may also appear inside the cheeks and back of lips, according to the NHS. What is a measles rash? The measles rash usually appears a few days after developing the cold-like symptoms, brown or red in appearance, it starts on the face and behind the ears before spreading to the rest of the body. Is there a measles outbreak in the UK? There have been 529 confirmed measles cases so far in England in 2025, with 68 per cent of cases occurring in children under the age of 10-years-old. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Of these cases, 233 have been in London, 64 in the East of England and 64 in the North West. With 84 out of 152 upper tier local authorities (UTLAs) reporting at least one confirmed measles case since January 2025. In 2024, there were 2,911 confirmed measles cases in England, the highest number of cases recorded annually, since 2012. This spike of cases was initially driven by a measles outbreak in Birmingham and London. Can you catch measles if you are vaccinated? If you are fully vaccinated from measles you may be able to catch the virus, but it is rare. Vaccination is the main form of protection we have against catching the illness and plays an important role in stopping its spread. Dr Connor Bamford, Virologist, Queen's University Belfast, explained: 'Measles is a vaccine preventable illness and so we need more people vaccinated against the virus (two doses of MMR, which also protects against other viruses). Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The more people who are vaccinated, the less likely measles will spread due to herd immunity. To reach herd immunity we need >95% vaccine coverage but on average the UK has less than 85% and there are pockets around the country with even lower levels. We need to encourage more vaccination.'
BBC News
10 hours ago
- BBC News
Measles in Liverpool: Call to 'get everyone fully vaccinated'
The leader of Liverpool City Council has vowed to ensure "we get everyone fully vaccinated" against measles following the death of a child who had contracted the highly contagious Robinson said the local authority extended its "deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences" to the family of the unidentified child, who died on Sunday at Alder Hey Children's bosses said measles was on the rise among young people in the area, with a surge in "seriously unwell" children being admitted to said the Labour-run council would do its utmost to improve the uptake of vaccines in the city. The Alder Hey case was the second death due to an acute measles infection in Great Britain this decade, the Local Democracy Reporting Service official details have been released either about the latest child's vaccination status or whether they were also being treated for other Sunday Times reported the child was ill with measles and other health June, Alder Hey said it had treated 17 children with Liverpool, the take-up rate for having both doses of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine stands at about 74%, significantly lower than the 83% rate for England as a achieve herd immunity, the World Health Organization wants 95% of the population to be this week, Liverpool's director of public health said he was very concerned about the spread of some areas of the city, Prof Matt Ashton said he believed vaccination rates were even lower, increasing fears of a major measles counterpart in Wirral, Dave Bradburn, confirmed on Tuesday that his borough had recorded a case of measles involving a young child. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- The Guardian
Thursday briefing: Misinformation, access and cuts – the UK's measles surge explained
Good morning. Not too long ago, the UK was really good at beating measls. In 2017, the World Health Organisation declared that the the disease had been eliminated for the first time in the UK, after no indigenous cases had been recorded in three years. Now, measles is back. Already this year there have been more than 500 confirmed cases in England, the majority in young children. On Sunday it was announced that a child who contracted measles had died at Liverpool's Alder Hey hospital, which had seen an additional 17 cases since the beginning of June. What makes this case more tragic is that healthcare professionals say no child should lose its life to this disease in the UK. The MMR vaccine, offered to all children in the UK, gives 97% protection against becoming infected with measles, mumps and rubella. Yet as measles cases not just in the UK but across the world see a surge, vaccination rates are plunging. Much of the blame has fallen on anti-vax conspiracy theories, which rehash the debunked links between the MMR vaccine and autism and tell parents that vaccines are akin to injecting their children with poison. But according to healthcare professionals, many other factors are also at play, and dealing with the complex reasons why parents aren't getting their children the jab is becoming increasingly urgent. For today's newsletter I talked to Dr Elizabeth Whittaker, the clinical lead for paediatric infectious diseases at Imperial College healthcare NHS trust, about why vaccine levels are falling and what can be done to reverse this decline. Middle East crisis | At least 20 Palestinians have been killed in a crush at a food distribution site in southern Gaza run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after guards used teargas or pepper spray on hungry crowds arriving at the centre. UK politics | Conservative former ministers have 'serious questions to answer' over the secret scheme to resettle Afghan nationals named in a data breach under the previous government, Keir Starmer has said. Labour | Four Labour MPs have had the whip removed for repeatedly breaching discipline, with three others demoted, in an effort to assert control over the party. The Guardian understands that the four are Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff. US politics | Donald Trump has dismissed a secretive inquiry into the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as 'boring' and of interest only to 'bad people', but said he backed the release of any 'credible' files. UK news | The Prevent anti-terrorism scheme missed chances to protect the public from the attacker who assassinated the MP Sir David Amess, and from the youth who murdered three young girls at a Southport dance class, an official report has found. Just a few decades ago, the likelihood of a child dying from measles in a UK hospital would have seemed remote, if not almost impossible. Yet Dr Elizabeth Whittaker said that the disease's resurgence has almost been a foregone conclusion as vaccination rates have steadily fallen over the past 10 years. To ensure herd immunity against measles, where enough people are protected to prevent the virus spreading, vaccination rates must hit 95%. The current rate across England is 84%. 'Measles has never been eradicated in any part of the world and if a country drops below that 95% herd immunity threshold then the disease will return,' said Whittaker. 'I think a huge part of the problem is that we have been so good at preventing measles, none of us really have any lived experience of understanding how devastating these infections can be.' How fast is measles spreading in the UK? According to NHS data, there have been 529 confirmed cases in England so far this year, with 68% occurring in children under the age of 10. The disease is highly infectious and airborne. In the past few years, outbreaks have occurred around the country, with the West Midlands experiencing cases at their highest level since the mid-1990s. The uptick in measles cases comes as no surprise to infectious disease experts such as Whittaker, considering that figures from NHS England show that 3.4 million children under the age of 16 years have not been fully immunised with the MMR vaccine. The UK's rising measles rates are part of a global upward trend. Measles cases in the US and Europe are at their highest levels in 33 years and 25 years respectively. Why are parents not getting their children vaccinated? Whittaker said that while there has certainly been a barrage of misinformation and conspiracy theories around the MMR vaccine – and vaccines in general – in recent years, she believes that this is only part of the story. 'Of course there is some vaccine hesitancy out there, but the bigger lesson here – and it's a good one because this is much easier to tackle – is that access is a massive issue,' she said. She said a recent report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) found that there was a reasonably good uptake in early childhood vaccines when women were on maternity leave and in close contact with healthcare professionals, but then this tailed off by the time children should be getting their first MMR jab at 12 months. This declined even further by the time the second jab was due at three to five years. 'It's things like parents working zero-hours contracts who can't afford the day off, or vaccines only being offered on certain times of the week, or a lack of transport or not being able to navigate the GP practice appointment system,' said Whittaker. 'So the key thing to tackle is increased flexibility on how, where and when these vaccines are being offered.' How have cuts to NHS services contributed? Another barrier to access is the way that information about the vaccine is being disseminated. 'Trusted individuals like midwives who are in contact with new mothers are replaced often by people who families don't know,' said Whittaker. 'Before you'd have a family doctor, now you see a different GP every time you go into the surgery. Health visitor resourcing is inadequate, so this means that trusted touch points between the health system and new parents have been lost.' Without access to the information and the vaccine, anti-vax messaging can move into this vacuum and become the dominant narrative. 'We've had parents reporting that they were never worried about vaccines, but that since all the doubt and conspiracy theories that took hold about the Covid vaccine, they're now questioning the credibility and safety of all vaccines, including the MMR,' said Whittaker. 'For a lot of women having a baby or being on your own with multiple small children is a very isolating experience and exposure to misinformation online isn't counteracted by contact with a trusted healthcare professional.' What can be done to reverse this? Whittaker said that there has to be an awareness that 'what works for us in north London may not work in Liverpool. We can make the systems as good as possible, but we need to provide solutions that are specific to the local population.' She points to a project she has recently visited in west London run in partnership with a local community group called Why Did Nobody Ask Us?, which attempts to work with parents from diverse backgrounds to understand the reasons underpinning slow vaccine take-up in their communities. 'We know Black African women have the lowest uptake of vaccines but nobody is really asking why,' she said. 'We need to listen to parents because their answers are probably the most crucial tool we have in tackling declining vaccination rates. Information has to be disseminated in as many ways and languages as possible.' Whittaker is also optimistic about other developments taking place, such as rolling out vaccination appointments and reminders through the NHS app. Yet what is clear is that there needs to be a massive and rapid investment into prioritising child health across the NHS. She sees the decline in vaccines as a manifestation of 'a real neglect of children's health across the board and it's something that has to change if we're going to reverse this trend'. What will happen if measles continues to spread? Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Whittaker said that if measles begins to spread and vaccinations levels continue to fall, the health system is likely to come under increasing strain. 'Measles comes with a huge health risk. Not only can children get really ill from the disease but they have a high risk of secondary bacterial infections,' she said. 'This all places a huge burden on an already overstretched system and means health care could be diverted from other children who desperately need it and comes at a significant economic cost.' Often the first time the hospitals come into contact with an infected child, 'they present with symptoms that aren't obviously measles and have sat in a waiting room and interacted with multiple other children and adults'. This means that when children do come back with all the visible signs of the disease, 'we then need to go back and contact trace everyone they might have been in contact with who could then be spreading infection through their community. It's a huge job and not one that we're currently prepared for.' She points out that this is a disease that could swiftly get out of hand if vaccination levels remain low. 'Unless we tackle this now, we've got a very big problem coming down the line.' This interview with Janet Street-Porter by the Guardian's Simon Hattenstone made me howl with laughter. A feature that shows them both at their best. Aamna As someone who remains traumatised by It, I'm not sure I'll make it through this whole list of the greatest Stephen King TV hits and misses but I'll certainly give some of these a go. Annie Trump's decision to launch a politically waged trade war against Brazil in defense of Jair Bolsonaro has spectacularly backfired, writes Tom Phillips. Aamna Very powerful reportage from Minatullah Alobaidi for the excellent New Lines magazine on the resurgence of Iraq's child brides as women's rights around the world continue to crumble. Annie If, like me, you're terrible at keeping up with life's admin, check out these useful tips from administrators. Aamna Cricket | Deepti Sharma tallied 62 as the tourists chased down their hosts, India winning by four wickets despite an error-strewn spell with the bat. 1st women's ODI: India, 262-6, beat England, 258-6, by four wickets. Golf | The R&A says it has held a 'really good discussion' with Donald Trump's family over the thorny issue of when their Turnberry course might stage the Open again. Cycling | In a chaotic climax to stage 11 of the Tour de France in Toulouse, Tadej Pogacar crashed at speed before remounting to finish, an anti-Israel protester ran on to the finish line, and the Norwegian Jonas Abrahamsen took his first Grand Tour stage win, for Uno-X. 'Four MPs lose Labour whip as PM attempts to reassert grip on party' is the Guardian's splash. The i paper has 'Reeves blamed for UK inflation hike, as NI rise hits food prices'. Top story in the Financial Times is 'Diageo chief stands down as falling alcohol sales take toll'. The Metro splashes on 'New Maxwell appeal bid as Trump flips'. 'Cabinet bid to halt Afghan airlift' – not now but when the Tories were in, the Telegraph reports. 'Afghan leak intelligence was hidden from MPs' says the Times. 'Thanks for saving us, now we'll sue you' – the Daily Mail is annoyed that Afghans put at risk of Taliban murder might seek compensation. 'Sue chef' – the Mirror says that's John Torode versus the BBC over his MasterChef ousting. 'They failed to provide what might have helped' – the Prevent anti-terror programme comes under fire in the Express over the Southport and David Ames murders. Why doctors are striking … again When Labour came to power it moved fast to end the public sector strikes. But now resident doctors are demanding a 29% rise in pay. Will they get it and will it put Labour's plans for the NHS at risk? Denis Campbell reports A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad A new London art institution aimed at promoting global majority voices will open this coming October in Fitzrovia, central London. It will be a space for 'difficult, urgent questions' and a bastion for respectful debate without the 'aggression' seen in a lot of political discourse. Ibraaz began life as an online platform before its launch as a home for global majority art and artists at a 10,000-square-foot Grade II-listed site. Its first exhibition will be Ibrahim Mahama's long-running, evolving work Parliament of Ghosts, which also appeared at the Manchester international festival in 2019 and features discarded objects from Mahama's west African homeland of Ghana. The Otolith Collective will create a 'library-in-residence', while the east London booksellers Burley Fisher will run Ibraaz's bookshop, which the Palestine festival of literature will initially curate. There will also be a talks programme. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
