Measles: Disease Control

(asked on 18th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent a measles outbreak.


Answered by
Maria Caulfield Portrait
Maria Caulfield
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This question was answered on 8th January 2024

The Department monitors and drives vaccine coverage in the United Kingdom, prepares the National Health Service, and tests the ability to respond to a potential outbreaks. In January 2024, we will be running a national multi-agency exercise to assess the system-wide preparedness to respond to a large measles outbreak at a regional and national level.

National measles guidance has been updated, and a range of resources have been published including posters and training resources, which are all available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-measles-guidelines

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-information-and-poster-for-health-professionals

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/measles-guidance-data-and-analysis

The Department, NHS England, and wider health system partners are also working to raise awareness of the risks of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and to increase vaccination coverage. This is being done through national and regional exercises, communication campaigns and targeted outreach for underserved communities.

NHS England has agreed with general practices to focus their annual MMR campaign to ensure that consistent efforts are made to contact those eligible who have not taken up a vaccine offer between November 2023 and March 2024. A national call recall for individuals aged six years old up to and including 25 years old who are not up to date with their MMR vaccine is planned for 2024.

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