MMR Vaccine
MMR Vaccine
The uptake of the MMR vaccine in Wales has reached its highest level in 12 years but health officials warn that the target rate has still not been reached, BBC News reported Dec. 17.
The uptake of the first dose of MMR in children reached 92 percent, according to the National Public Health Service for Wales.
NPHS welcomed the increase but said the target of 95 percent needed to protect children had still not been met.
An outbreak of measles in Wales in May was the largest seen in the United Kingdom since the introduction of the MMR vaccine. Nearly 400 children across the country contracted measles to date and 42 required hospital treatment.
Approximately 83 percent of those children had not received either dose of the MMR vaccine, and 13.5 percent had received only one dose.
The NPHS is urging parents who have not yet vaccinated their children to take action.
Figures showed that the uptake of the second dose of MMR in children had risen to its highest rate at 86 percent but, again, the target is 95 percent.
"These figures are very encouraging and show that parents have responded to the news of a Wales-wide measles outbreak by rethinking their decision not to vaccinate their children with MMR,” said Richard Roberts, head of the NPHS vaccine preventable disease program.
"However, the uptake is still not high enough to guarantee that outbreaks of measles, mumps and rubella will no longer happen in Wales, and parents need to remember that all these diseases can cause serious complications and even death.
"We are therefore reminding any parent whose child has not yet received two doses of MMR and is overdue for these vaccinations that they should speak to their GP, practice nurse or health visitor urgently."
In the UK, children should receive their first dose of the vaccine at 13 months and the second at about 3 years and 4 months.
Two doses of the MMR vaccine provide 99 percent protection against measles, mumps and rubella.
Tony Jewell, the chief medical officer for Wales, said, "This vaccination is the simplest way of protecting people from these potentially life-threatening illnesses."