Breaking: Measles Cases Rise in Greater Manchester Amidst Vaccine Uptake Concerns
Cases of highly infectious measles are spreading in three areas of Greater Manchester, prompting health officials to urge vigilance and vaccination. The outbreaks are occurring in Manchester, Salford, and Trafford, with health leaders warning of the potential for wider transmission due to falling vaccination rates.
Doctors have stressed the rise in measles is coming from a ‘poor uptake’ of the MMR vaccine across the country – an uptake that has fallen over the last decade. Not a single childhood vaccine in England last year met the target needed to ensure diseases cannot spread among youngsters, figures revealed in August showed. Some 91.9 per cent of five-year-olds had received one dose of the MMR vaccine, the lowest level since 2010/11. Just 83.7 per cent had received both doses, down from 83.9 per cent the previous year and the lowest level since 2009/10. Uptake of the first MMR dose at 24 months stood at 88.9 per cent in 2024/25 – unchanged on the previous year,but again the lowest figure since 2009/10.
Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that can lead to serious complications, particularly in young children. symptoms appear seven to 10 days after contact with the virus and include cold-like symptoms such as a runny or blocked nose, sneezing and cough; red, sore, watery eyes; a high temperature (fever), which may reach around 40C; a non-itchy, red-brown rash which usually appears three to five days later, or small white spots which may appear inside cheeks and the back of lips.
Health officials advise anyone who develops symptoms – a fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, followed by a rash - to stay home and contact their GP or NHS 111.
