UK loses measles elimination status, warns WHO

The UK has lost its measles elimination status from the World Health Organisation (WHO) after vaccination coverage plateaued and cases surged.

From 2021 to 2023, the country was considered to have "eliminated" the disease, but global health officials say measles transmission was re-established in the UK in 2024.

Vaccination coverage has flatlined in recent years, with recorded measles infections in the UK soaring to 3,681 in 2024.

Spain, Austria, Armenia, ⁠Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan also lost their status, and the WHO urged countries to boost vaccination rates to prevent the ​disease infecting more children.

"It is unsurprising the UK has lost its WHO measles elimination status, following nationwide outbreaks since 2024 and the preventable death of a child in 2025," said Dr Ben Kasstan-Dabush, assistant professor of global health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The latest figures for England from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) show that in 2024-25, just 83.7% of five-year-olds had received both MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine doses, down year-on-year from 83.9%.

This was the lowest level since 2009-10.

Also in 2024-25, some 91.9% of five-year-olds had received one dose of the MMR vaccine, unchanged from 2023-24 and the lowest level since 2010-11.

The WHO advises that at least 95% of children should receive vaccine doses for each illness to achieve herd immunity.

"Infections can return quickly when childhood vaccine uptake falls," said Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at the UKHSA.

"Measles elimination is only possible if all eligible children receive two MMRV doses before school.

"Older children and adults who missed vaccination must be caught up."

From the start of January, children have been offered a combined MMRV vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, instead of the MMR jab, as part of the childhood routine two-dose vaccination schedule.

Dose one is being offered at one year of age and dose two has been brought forward from three years four months to a new 18-month appointment.

The rollout across the four nations of the UK comes after the combined MMRV (measles, mumps, rubella and varicella) jab was recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in 2023.

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A WHO spokesperson said the UK's change of status "reflects a broader challenge" that the organisation is facing across Europe.

"Outbreaks of measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases are threats to health security in Europe," they added.

Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer in public health medicine at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: "It's extremely concerning that in the UK we now have pockets of low or no vaccine uptake."

He warned that "we urgently need to remedy this situation".

(c) Sky News 2026: UK loses measles elimination status, warns WHO