Measles
(asked on 21st July 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to protect nurseries from measles outbreaks; what support he is providing to the early years sector to deal with cases; and whether he plans to introduce a public health awareness campaign on measles.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the National Health Service are working with local partners to provide advice, as well as supporting local communities to be aware of actions they can take to protect against measles, including by getting vaccinated. Vaccination has a direct positive impact on health and wellbeing, protecting individuals as well as their communities. Vaccination induces long-term immunity and thereby provides protection to that individual and reduces transmission to others.
UKHSA health protection teams support cluster and outbreak management. Further advice is available at the following link:
NHS England continues to deliver national and regional improvement plans. These include activities to strengthen the routine vaccination offer and to address inequalities, supporting measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) catch up vaccination by school age vaccination services in schools and community settings.
The UKHSA, NHS England, and the Department will launch a new ‘always on’ vaccination campaign this summer to drive increased take up of the routine maternal, childhood, and seasonal flu vaccinations. The MMR vaccine is a particular focus, with parents and carers of zero- to five-year-olds and pregnant women being two of the priority audiences for campaign activity.
NHS England has provided detailed information for parents whose children have contracted measles, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/
The Department for Education also provides advice to parents, which is available at the following link: