Latest news with #vaccinations
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Parents urged to get kids vaccinated after Liverpool death
Parents in Wiltshire are being urged to ensure their children's vaccinations are up to date after a child in Liverpool died from measles. Measles is highly contagious and the effects can be fatal, medics warn. Measles, Mumps, and Rubella vaccinations are offered to children in two stages. The first dose, MMR1, is typically given around 12 months of age, while the second dose, MMR2, is usually administered around three years of age. Both doses are necessary for optimal protection against these three viral diseases. The World Health Organisation says at least 95 per cent of children in a community should be vaccinated to ensure herd immunity because measles is so contagious. In Wiltshire, vaccination rates are well above the South West and UK averages, but still dip below the 95 per cent target for the MMR2 jab. In the year 2023-24, 96.3 per cent of children in the county had received their MMR1 jab by the age of five, while 92 per cent had received the MMR2 vaccination. In Wiltshire, vaccination rates climbed to an all-time high in 2020-21 and 2021-22 before declining slightly. MMR 1 vaccination rates increased marginally between 2022-23 and 2023-24 but MMR 2 vaccination rates declined slightly. In the South West, there were 112 laboratory confirmed measles cases in 2024, with 40 of those cases being reported in children aged five and under. In 2025 so far, there have been 58 laboratory confirmed measles cases, with children under five accounting for 29 cases. Fewer than 10 cases were reported in Wiltshire, so the county does not feature individually in health statistics. The UK Health Security Agency is responsible for monitoring the disease, promoting vaccination, and responding to outbreaks. In a statement, the UKHSA South West said: 'Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious complications. 'It is preventable with the MMR vaccine, so parents should make sure their children are up to date and catch up on any missed doses.' Symptoms to look out for include cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash a few days later. Some people may also get small spots in their mouth. This progresses with a distinctive rash that starts on the face or behind the ears and then spreads to the rest of the body. Measles can leave people seriously ill and even be fatal. While the incident in Liverpool is only the second reported death of a child from measles in the past five years, health authorities are concerned about the UK's low vaccination rate. In Liverpool, only 73 per cent of children aged five have received the necessary two shots, while in parts of London – where over 1,300 cases of measles were reported last year – vaccine uptake is below 65 per cent.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Sudan's children face growing threat of deadly infectious diseases as vaccination rates halve
Children in Sudan, caught up in what aid organisations have called the world's largest humanitarian crisis and threatened by rising levels of violence, are increasingly vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases as vaccinations in the country plummet. In 2022, more than 90% of young children in Sudan received their routine vaccinations. But that figure has nearly halved to 48%, the lowest in the world, according to the World Health Organization. Globally, more than 14 million infants remain unvaccinated and the world is not on track to meet goals of halving the number of these 'zero-dose' children compared with 2019 levels by 2030, the WHO reported on Tuesday. While misinformation and vaccine hesitancy have driven falls in immunisation in some countries, 'that has not been the problem here', said Dr Tedbabe Degefie Hailegebriel, chief of health for Unicef Sudan. 'This plummeting coverage is driven entirely by the war.' The country's civil war began two years ago and has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more, in what the International Rescue Committee has called 'the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded'. There were 838,000 children in Sudan last year who did not receive a single dose of vaccine – the third-highest figure in the world, behind only Nigeria (2.1 million) and India (909,000). The proportion of children who have received a DTP-1 jab – the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine – is seen as a key indicator of access to essential healthcare. Missing it, Hailegebriel said, meant a 'child, and most probably also their parents, have almost zero contact with the health system'. She said the war had hit Sudan's health service hard, with people displaced and the physical destruction of health facilities, supply lines and information systems 'that makes the health service functional'. 'Health workers – doctors, nurses, midwives, community volunteers – have not been paid in months. And just the basic infrastructure – the clean water available to health facilities, the electricity availability to health facilities – is totally destroyed,' she said. Disease outbreaks in Sudan tend to affect people who have 'lost your safe place, your home, your protection, however modest that might be', and find themselves in camps or temporary accommodation. 'When that is coupled with an already vulnerable child who is not vaccinated, the vulnerability is compounded,' she said. Diseases that can be prevented with vaccination, including measles, not only kill but can leave survivors with long-term complications, Hailegebriel said, adding that these were 'children who are robbed of their future'. The WHO said war and conflicts around the world were a major threat to immunisation progress, with children living in one of 26 countries 'affected by fragility, conflict or humanitarian emergencies' being three times more likely to be unvaccinated than their counterparts in stable countries. However, there were 'emerging signs of slippage' or stalling progress in many parts of the world, said Dr Kate O'Brien, director of the WHO's immunisation, vaccines and biologicals department. 'Even the smallest drops in immunisation coverage as measured at the country level can have devastating consequences. It opens the door to deadly disease outbreaks and puts even more pressure on health systems that are already stretched,' she said. And while access to vaccination remains the main issue worldwide, 'we're extremely concerned about mis- and disinformation because of the threat it has to worsen the situation'. O'Brien said she expected cuts to aid funding to affect vaccine coverage in future years, with countries struggling to raise domestic finance. Humanitarian efforts had succeeded in boosting vaccination rates in the first half of this year in Sudan, said Hailegebriel, but Unicef's appeal for the country remained unfunded. The charity has shipped in containers to rebuild the country's 'cold chain', vital for keeping vaccines and other essential medicines at the right temperature so they remain effective on the journey from factory to patient. But when conflict flares those efforts have to stop. 'In areas where there was active fighting, active conflict, of course we will not be able to deliver,' she said. 'But when the situation changes, that's when we move in. 'The destruction is unspeakable. The whole infrastructure gets damaged, medicines get looted. So whenever you go into those new areas, it is again rebuilding to make sure the already shaking health system doesn't collapse further. 'The situation of Sudan has not received the world's attention it deserves,' she said. 'It is our hope that this will change, and these hostilities stop so that children get the peaceful environment they need to live and thrive.' Abdallah Idriss Abugarda, who leads the Darfur Diaspora Association in the UK, said the situation in the Darfur region was becoming more difficult, particularly in the besieged city of El Fasher. That meant, Abugarda said, that most families he spoke to in Sudan had more pressing concerns than vaccination. 'It's not a priority to them – they want to have food delivered, and medicine for malaria and fever for the children.'
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Childhood jabs and autism: Landmark study of 1.2 million children reveals the truth
A major study exploring the link between childhood vaccinations and autism has confirmed jabs do not cause the developmental condition—and may actually protect against it. Researchers examined the health records of more than 1.2 million children born in Denmark between 1997 and 2018, all of whom had received routine jabs. Using data from Denmark's nationwide Medical Birth Registry, they looked at whether being vaccinated increased the risk of developing any of 50 chronic conditions. These included autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes, allergies, asthma and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As nearly all Danish children are vaccinated, researchers instead focused on how much aluminium each child received through their early jabs. Aluminium is added to some childhood vaccines to help boost the immune response, and anti-vaccine campaigners have long claimed it may be harmful—particularly to the developing brain. However, there has been little large-scale human data to test this. Varying aluminium levels in vaccines offered to children allowed scientists to test if more exposure meant greater risk. They found no significant increase in risk for any of the conditions examined—and for some, including autism, the risk was slightly lower in children who had received more aluminium. The findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, are the latest to debunk claims that vaccines—or the aluminium they contain—cause lasting harm. Professor Anders Hviid, senior study author an expert in epidemiology at Statens Serum Institut—a sector of the Danish Ministry of Health—said that, as a parent, he understood the concerns about vaccine safety. 'Our study addresses many of these concerns and provides clear and robust evidence for the safety of childhood vaccines,' he said. 'This is evidence that parents need to make the best choices for the health of their children. Researchers found that even when children reached the age of eight and had been exposed to more vaccinations—and therefore more aluminium—there was no increased risk of the disorder. In 2025, Danish children are vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), hepatitis B, meningitis B, pneumococcal disease, measles, mumps, and rubella. For decades parents have feared a potential link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Doubts about the safety of the jab—offered to children aged one—were fuelled by disgraced ex-doctor Andrew Wakefield in 1998 after he claimed, in a since thoroughly discredited study, it was linked to an increase in cases of autism in children. Mr Wakefield claimed that the first signs of the neurodevelopmental condition—characterised by challenges with social communication and repetitive behaviours—begin to manifest around 15-months-old, when the jab is offered. He lost his license to practice as a doctor in 2010 when he was struck off by the UK's medical regulator for 'dishonest and irresponsible' conduct. The theory has been disproven by numerous studies since, but the legacy of these claims continue to cause issues. It was revealed in recent weeks that there has been a slump in MMR vaccination rates, prompting health chiefs to urge parents to check their child's immunisation status against the 'forgotten' but deadly illness measles, amid a rise in cases. In the UK, the MMR vaccination figure stands at 85.2 per cent—a slight uptick on late 2024 but still one of the lowest in a decade. The figure is also below the 95 per cent jab uptake experts say is key to preventing major outbreaks of incredibly contagious condition. MMR vaccination uptake is a particular problem in certain parts of the country—with only around half of children living in some parts of London having had both jabs. Similarly low levels are also seen in major cities in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham. Tragically, this week a child died of measles in Liverpool. Experts now say without concerted action to improve vaccination rates it is a 'tragic inevitability' that recurrent outbreaks will occur resulting in further loss of 'precious young lives'. While the latest study helps further discredit claims that vaccines are linked to autism there has been undeniable increase in diagnoses in recent years. Experts have previously noted a eight-fold increase in cases in recent decades. British researchers have said worrying rise is likely due to increased awareness of the condition but have added an increase in prevalence could also be contributing. An additional factor experts say could be influencing the rise is the retirement of Asperger's syndrome. This was once considered a separate condition but is now considered another form of autism. However, others have pointed to the 'wild-west' of autism screening in England that could mean over-diagnosis could also be playing a part. Last year a study revealed adults referred to some autism assessment facilities have an 85 per cent chance of being told they are on the spectrum. Yet the figure can be as low as 35 per cent in other places, researchers at University College London found. The latest figures suggest autism diagnoses have skyrocketed over the last three years with more than 200,000 people now waiting for an assessment in England. Children now often have to wait over a year for an assessment said a spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care, who claimed autistic children are being 'let down by a broken NHS'. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said vaccine hesitancy remains to be one of the 10 biggest global threats to health.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Sudan's children face growing threat of deadly infectious diseases as vaccination rates halve
Children in Sudan, caught up in what aid organisations have called the world's largest humanitarian crisis and threatened by rising levels of violence, are increasingly vulnerable to deadly infectious diseases as vaccinations in the country plummet. In 2022, more than 90% of young children in Sudan received their routine vaccinations. But that figure has nearly halved to 48%, the lowest in the world, according to the World Health Organization. Globally, more than 14 million infants remain unvaccinated and the world is not on track to meet goals of halving the number of these 'zero-dose' children compared with 2019 levels by 2030, the WHO reported on Tuesday. While misinformation and vaccine hesitancy have driven falls in immunisation in some countries, 'that has not been the problem here', said Dr Tedbabe Degefie Hailegebriel, chief of health for Unicef Sudan. 'This plummeting coverage is driven entirely by the war.' The country's civil war began two years ago and has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions more, in what the International Rescue Committee has called 'the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded'. There were 838,000 children in Sudan last year who did not receive a single dose of vaccine – the third-highest figure in the world, behind only Nigeria (2.1 million) and India (909,000). The proportion of children who have received a DTP-1 jab – the first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine – is seen as a key indicator of access to essential healthcare. Missing it, Hailegebriel said, meant a 'child, and most probably also their parents, have almost zero contact with the health system'. She said the war had hit Sudan's health service hard, with people displaced and the physical destruction of health facilities, supply lines and information systems 'that makes the health service functional'. 'Health workers – doctors, nurses, midwives, community volunteers – have not been paid in months. And just the basic infrastructure – the clean water available to health facilities, the electricity availability to health facilities – is totally destroyed,' she said. Disease outbreaks in Sudan tend to affect people who have 'lost your safe place, your home, your protection, however modest that might be', and find themselves in camps or temporary accommodation. 'When that is coupled with an already vulnerable child who is not vaccinated, the vulnerability is compounded,' she said. Diseases that can be prevented with vaccination, including measles, not only kill but can leave survivors with long-term complications, Hailegebriel said, adding that these were 'children who are robbed of their future'. The WHO said war and conflicts around the world were a major threat to immunisation progress, with children living in one of 26 countries 'affected by fragility, conflict or humanitarian emergencies' being three times more likely to be unvaccinated than their counterparts in stable countries. However, there were 'emerging signs of slippage' or stalling progress in many parts of the world, said Dr Kate O'Brien, director of the WHO's immunisation, vaccines and biologicals department. 'Even the smallest drops in immunisation coverage as measured at the country level can have devastating consequences. It opens the door to deadly disease outbreaks and puts even more pressure on health systems that are already stretched,' she said. And while access to vaccination remains the main issue worldwide, 'we're extremely concerned about mis- and disinformation because of the threat it has to worsen the situation'. O'Brien said she expected cuts to aid funding to affect vaccine coverage in future years, with countries struggling to raise domestic finance. Humanitarian efforts had succeeded in boosting vaccination rates in the first half of this year in Sudan, said Hailegebriel, but Unicef's appeal for the country remained unfunded. The charity has shipped in containers to rebuild the country's 'cold chain', vital for keeping vaccines and other essential medicines at the right temperature so they remain effective on the journey from factory to patient. But when conflict flares those efforts have to stop. 'In areas where there was active fighting, active conflict, of course we will not be able to deliver,' she said. 'But when the situation changes, that's when we move in. 'The destruction is unspeakable. The whole infrastructure gets damaged, medicines get looted. So whenever you go into those new areas, it is again rebuilding to make sure the already shaking health system doesn't collapse further. 'The situation of Sudan has not received the world's attention it deserves,' she said. 'It is our hope that this will change, and these hostilities stop so that children get the peaceful environment they need to live and thrive.' Abdallah Idriss Abugarda, who leads the Darfur Diaspora Association in the UK, said the situation in the Darfur region was becoming more difficult, particularly in the besieged city of El Fasher. That meant, Abugarda said, that most families he spoke to in Sudan had more pressing concerns than vaccination. 'It's not a priority to them – they want to have food delivered, and medicine for malaria and fever for the children.'
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Family doctor says measles outbreaks in Canada are entirely preventable
While B.C. has recorded a little over 100 cases of measles as of July 5, neighbouring Alberta has recorded more cases than the entirety of the U.S. despite having a fraction of the population. Dr. Susan Kuo, a Richmond family physician, said the current outbreak could be prevented with up-to-date vaccinations, and the COVID-19 pandemic had led to an increase in vaccine skepticism and poor disease mitigation.
