More than 180,000 additional doses of MMR vaccine were delivered in last year’s catch-up campaign by GPs, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
It means that 13% of previously unvaccinated children under the age of five years were vaccinated with their first dose of MMR compared to baseline, a report from the public health body said.
Notably it was ‘encouraging’ to see the largest coverage increases for both doses of MMR in groups with historically lower MMR coverage including African, Arab, other black and white Gypsy and Irish Traveller ethnic groups, UKHSA said.
The figures also showed for all cohorts for both first and second MMR dose, the greatest percentage change in coverage was observed in the most deprived populations.
A catch-up campaign was announced after an outbreak of measles largely centred in the West Midlands followed by ongoing pockets of cases in London.
It was targeted on areas where people are most at risk of measles including children and young adults who were not vaccinated when they were younger.
Between January and November 2024 there were over 2,700 laboratory confirmed cases of measles reported in England.
In all, 47% of cases were in London and 21% in the West Midlands, but all regions have been affected, the figures show.
Localised outbreaks are still happening – most recently in Yorkshire and the Humber and the South West – but overall there has been a downward trend since mid-July.
‘We would like to thank all those who worked so hard on regional and national initiatives to improve vaccine uptake, particularly with vulnerable communities in areas with highest measles activity,’ UKHSA said in a quarterly Vaccine update.
Yet there are ongoing concerns with declining vaccine uptake in general, including MMR.
The most recent quarterly statistics published before Christmas show coverage at 12 months in England and in the UK decreased for all antigens, including a 0.3 percentage points drop for ‘6-in-1’ vaccine.
Uptake of the first dose of MMR measured at 24 months fell by 0.4 percentage points in England and in the UK, the figures for July to September 2024 showed.
In means vaccination coverage remains below the highest rate seen in the previous decade and ‘represents a continuation of an ongoing declining trend in coverage’.
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at UKHSA, said: ‘Vaccination is one of the most important things we can do to give children the very best start in life. If children aren’t vaccinated, they’re not protected. So it’s concerning over the past decade we have seen a decline in uptake across childhood vaccines.
‘If we can achieve the World Health Organization’s target of 95% coverage we can prevent these infections coming back. Unless action is taken and uptake improves, we are likely to see the diseases that these vaccines prevent against re-emerging.’
It comes as NHS England has opened 12 new mpox vaccination sites across England to make it easier for high-risk groups to access the service.
A version of this story was first published on our sister title Pulse.