Coverage for the two doses of the MMR vaccine in five-year-olds in England is currently 85.5 per cent, well below the 95 per cent that is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in order to stop measles from spreading.
Coverage of the first dose for two-year-olds has also dropped to 88.6 per cent. It means that more than one in 10 children are not fully protected and at risk of catching measles.
Measles is highly contagious and can lead to complications such as ear infections, pneumonia, and inflammation of the brain which require hospitalisation and on rare occasions can lead to long-term disability or death.
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