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MMR vaccination programme planned for schools

Thousands of school children will be offered the MMR jab in a bid to prevent a threatened measles epidemic.

Health officials are writing to most of the primary schools in London to see if they will take part in the programme. The move follows warnings from the Health Protection Agency that the capital faces a measles outbreak as 90,000 children have not completed the course of MMR jabs.

It has been estimated that an uptake figure of 95 per cent would be needed to protect all children from contracting the disease. However, in London only 80 per cent of five year olds have had the initial dose of the MMR while only 58 per cent have had the second dose to complete the course for full protection.

The number of cases of measles has been controlled throughout the nineties, largely due to the MMR vaccine. However, there is a fear that the country could be facing a measles epidemic similar to those seen in the seventies and eighties as the number of children receiving the vaccination is dropping.

Primary Care trusts (PCTs) will be co-ordinating the programme across London primary schools, targetting 4 to 11 year olds. If successful, the scheme will extend to other low uptake areas across the country.

Professor Sue Atkinson, the NHS regional director for public health for London, said children were at risk from rubella and mumps as well as measles.

"It is vital that we increase the numbers of our children protected against these serious diseases as soon as possible to prevent larger epidemics."

Dr Graham Fraser, an epidemiologist with the Health Protection Agency, said it was particularly important for primary school children to be fully immunised as they often "pass the infection to younger siblings."

But Jackie Fletcher, of the campaign group Jabs, said she was concerned about the move. "Parents are not being given the choice about vaccinations and we worry that children will be pressurised into having the vaccinations behind the backs of their parents."

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