Uptake of the childhood measles, mumps and rubella triple vaccine (MMR) declined sharply in the United Kingdom after a publication in medical journal The Lancet reported a link between the ‘triple jab’ and autism. Although the study was retracted after concerns about both its scientific validity and the authors’ sources of funding, many parents remained concerned and arguably ill-informed about the safety of the triple jab. This led to vaccination levels in the UK remaining well below the level required to achieve herd immunity.

If 95% of children are vaccinated, the chances of an epidemic of any of these three illnesses are considered minimal. However, around one in four British children have not received the two doses of the vaccine considered to provide adequate immunity. The percentage of non-vaccinated children can be even higher than this in certain parts of the country, notably in London. The UK Health Protection agency reported today that measles cases in England and Wales have reached a thirteen-year high, with over a thousand children falling ill between January and October of this year. The specter of a measles epidemic is now thought by epidemiologists to be looming on the horizon. If such an epidemic occurs, mutation of the virus as it spreads through the non-vaccinated cohort could allow it infect vaccinated individuals, rendering our existing defenses useless.

In the above-linked press release, Dr Mary Ramsay of the HPA reminded the public that “Children who weren’t vaccinated many years ago are at real risk. It is never too late to get vaccinated.” The same goes for adults who were not vaccinated in infancy.

While we cannot blame parents for wanting to protect their children from potential damaging side-effects of the MMR vaccine, perhaps we can blame media coverage and even poor public understanding of science for many parents’ decisions not to vaccinate. Perhaps we can also blame the complacency of a developed society which has forgotten the very real dangers of infectious disease. How many parents know that measles can lead to potentially fatal complications, or that mumps can render boys infertile? It remains to be seen what effect the current media coverage will have on vaccination levels.