Island MMR Vaccination Rates Below Target, Councillor Warns

The Isle of Wight remains below the recommended target for MMR vaccinations, prompting concern from a senior councillor over declining uptake and so-called “anti-vaccination” sentiment.

Speaking at last Thursday’s Adult Social Care, Public Health and Housing Needs Committee, Councillor Michael Lilley highlighted that 85.8 per cent of five-year-olds on the Island have received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

The Ryde Appley and Elmfield representative said the figure falls short of the 95 per cent coverage needed to achieve herd immunity — the level the World Health Organisation says is required to prevent the spread of measles within a population.

Herd immunity provides indirect protection from infectious diseases when a high proportion of people are vaccinated or immune through previous infection.

Councillor Lilley told the meeting:

“We’re at 85.8 per cent of measles vaccinations, which doesn’t give you herd immunity.

"We obviously have families on the Island that are anti-vaccination — how do we tackle that?

“I do know at certain schools we’ve got a bit of measles out there at the moment.”

His comments come after the UK Health Security Agency confirmed 130 cases of measles in England between 1 January and 16 February.

Responding, Nicola Dennis, Public Health Consultant at Isle of Wight Council, said efforts are underway to improve uptake.

She explained that public health teams are working with NHS school-age immunisation services to identify schools with lower vaccination rates and explore ways to address the issue.

“We do recognise some of the rates aren’t where we want them to be and they are going down,” she said.

“This is something we really want to prioritise, especially with the national situation around the measles outbreak.”

Councillor Lilley added that reaching herd immunity levels must be a priority, describing outbreaks across the UK as a significant concern.

Ms Dennis said NHS England has been invited to take part in a detailed review of screening and immunisation services at the Island’s next Health Protection Board meeting in May.

“We absolutely see it as the key priority for health protection on the Island,” she said.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne viral disease which can lead to serious complications and, in some cases, death, according to the World Health Organisation.