The World Health Organization ( WHO ) has declared that the United Kingdom is no longer rubeola - free just three years after the computer virus was do away with . A steady descent in the uptake of the rubeola , mumps , and rubella vaccine – the so - called MMR poke – has been witnessed in the European area over the last decade , which has led to an addition in the act of measles cases .

In the first three month of the year , there   were 231 font of measles across the four nations of the United Kingdom . This looks like on par with what was witnessed in 2018 , when 970 try cases of rubeola were report .

It is also a staggering 10 - fold increasesince 2015 ,   the year before the WHO decided to adjudge the res publica measles - free . The term " measles - gratuitous " does n’t mean that the disease is completely gone , it simply denotes that there have been no endemic cases for a certain amount of clip .   For example , Costa Rica ’s last cases of rubeola were wreak to the country byunvaccinated European tourists . Despite these character , and thanks to Costa Rica ’s high pace of vaccinations , the Mesoamerican nation still remains measles - loose .

This is no longer the lawsuit for the United Kingdom . UNICEF , the United Nations International Children ’s Emergency Fund , has reported that between 2010 and 2017 almost170 million childrenwent unvaccinated around the globe . About 527,000 of them were from the UK . Only 87 pct of children in the country have received   their 2d stab , well below the 95 per centum required to make herd exemption in a population .

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged societal medium companies to do more and has unveiled a campaign to stop the spread of false selective information from anti - vaxxers .

“ After a menses of forward motion where we were once able to declare Britain rubeola - free , we ’ve now meet hundreds of cases of measles in the UK this yr . One character of this horrifying disease is too many , and I am determined to step up our efforts to harness its spread , ” Johnson will say , The Guardianreports . “ From reassuring parents about the safety of vaccines to verify citizenry are attending take after - up appointments , we can and must do more to stanch the paste of infective , treatable diseases in New - day Britain . ”

That articulate , Johnson will not consider measures to make vaccines mandatory .   So - called “ no poke , no school ” policies have been introduced in several land around the world and have shownpromising resultsin increasing the bit of immunized children .

[ H / T : The Guardian ]