UK MMR uptake 'one of the worst in Europe'
Taken from pulsetoday.co.uk, 07 Jan 09
Story By Lilian Anekwe
The UK has one of the worst levels of uptake of the MMR vaccine in Europe, according to the findings of a major study of 32 European countries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that coverage needs to be at a minimum of 95% with two doses of vaccine in order to achieve the WHO’s goal of effectively wiping out the disease in Europe by 2010.
However as a result of the poor uptake of the MMR vaccine in the UK, as a result of lingering fears over the safety of the vaccine, coverage was less than 85% in children at two years of age between 2002 and 2005. The number of cases reported in the UK also jumped from 773 to 1004 between 2006 and 2007.
The vast majority of the 12,132 recorded cases recorded in the study occurred in the UK, Romania, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.