Outbreaks of measles in Croydon have led the council to launch an MMR action plan.
Organisations across the borough will work together to encourage residents to check they are up to date with their vaccinations, and encourage parents and carers to get their children vaccinated.
Councillor Jane Avis, the council’s lead member for families, health and social care, said: “Measles, mumps and rubella are all highly infectious conditions that can have serious, potentially fatal complications. Everyone who isn’t immune is at risk of contracting the virus and passing it on to others.”
Along with Councillor Avis, Rachel Flowers, Croydon Council’s director of public health, will lead the initiative. She said: “Given the high rates of measles cases in older age groups in the recent outbreaks, it is particularly important to be aware that there is no upper age limit for the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccination.”
South west London mum, Jilly Moss, wrote a viral Facebook post about her daughter Alba contracting measles and pleaded with readers to vaccinate their children.
She wrote in the post: “She was too young for her MMR vaccination when she got sick which meant she has had to fight this killer virus with no immunity.
“The MMR does not cause life threatening issues like measles does. Your babies might feel under the weather for a day or so but believe me you’d accept that over what we have been through.”
Some responded to her post with links to websites claiming autism and the MMR vaccine were linked, and other commenters claimed it caused cancer and diabetes.
One commented: “I can share 1000’s if not hundreds of thousands of dead babies and ones injured by the vaccines. You people are so blind it is not funny. I can’t even handle the ignorance. Just insane. You are all sick and just go vaccinate yourself. Insane”
Another said: “Enjoy the dead babies, dead mice, dead cows in your vaccines.”
According to the government, between 1 January and 31 October 2018, there were 913 confirmed cases of measles in England, up from 259 in 2017.
For more information on the MMR vaccine, visit the NHS page here
