Emergency £1.8m fund launched to halt measles epidemic in UK

Ministers have set up a £1.8 million immunisation fund amid fears the epidemic could rage out of control among vulnerable children.

They are calling on all parents to take their children for the measles, mumps and rubella jab MMR after immunisation levels fell to a dangerous low. 

There have already been 257 cases of measles so far this year

Hundreds are falling ill across the country with 70 per cent of the cases reported in London. In the first five months of this year there were 257 measles cases, compared with 167 in the whole of last year.

Measles is caused by a virus with symptoms including a high temperature, aches, diarrhoea and a blotchy red rash. Although most children recover after 10 days, complications can include pneumonia and brain inflammation, which causes death in some cases.

Today ministers announced that each Primary Care Trust  will be given £30,000 to tackle the virus, while London boroughs will get £60,000 because they are lagging so far behind.

Chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson will write to all PCTs in the country today urging them to take part in the MMR catch-up programme.

His letter said: 'Following a decade of relatively low vaccine uptake there is now a large number of children who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated with MMR. The potential exposure of a large number of unprotected children means that there is a real risk of a large measles epidemic.'

He said more than 100,000 children are at risk of measles, as well as mumps and rubella.

Professor David Salisbury, director of Immunisation at the Department of Health, said: 'Parents who have not had their children vaccinated with the MMR vaccine should do so now. The evidence on MMR is absolutely clear  -  there is no link between the vaccine and autism.

'The MMR vaccine coverage is not high enough to remove the threat of recurrence of measles outbreaks. Measles is serious and in some cases it can be fatal. Delaying immunisation puts children at risk.'

It is thought that three million children have missed either their first or second MMR vaccination.

Levels of vaccination dropped after claims MMR may be linked to autism.