Extra clinics in Shropshire as cases of measles on the rise

Around 20 cases of measles have been reported in the Oswestry area, with more than 40 suspected cases over the border in Mid Wales.

Health bosses say all the cases reported in the Oswestry area have been linked with the outbreak in South Wales, which has infected more than 800 people and is being linked to the death of a 25-year-old man in Swansea.

As well as setting up extra clinics, GPs across Shropshire are being urged to offer jabs to babies from the age of six months. The first combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is normally given to children between the ages of 12 and 13 months.

Dr Musarrat Afza, consultant in communicable disease control for Public Health England said there was anecdotal evidence that parents were contacting their GPs to ask about the MMR jab, but it was too soon to know how many additional children have been vaccinated as a result of this.

But he confirmed extra clinics had been set up in Oswestry this week for practices to vaccinate unimmunised children between the ages of one and 19.

Health officials are keen to emphasise that children of any age, including teenagers and young adults, can still be vaccinated if they missed out on immunisation when they were younger.

Dr Afza said: "Measles is highly infectious and should not be regarded as a 'harmless' childhood disease. If your child has not had the MMR vaccine, you are advised to contact your GP surgery and make an appointment."

He said that due to Shropshire's proximity to the Welsh border, Public Health England has advised that GPs in higher risk areas offer the MMR jab to children from six months old.

It comes after child health doctors warned more than a million schoolchildren could be susceptible to measles due to the MMR vaccine scare, with a generation of unprotected children are now in secondary school, where they are at greater risk.