'Very young child' unwell with measles as first Wirral case confirmed
It has been confirmed that a ‘very young child’ is unwell with measles, just days after a child died at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
The news comes after Alder Hey, along with other public health officials, released an open letter, revealing “several children” were “seriously unwell” with the virus and receiving treatment.
Responding to concerns about the rise in cases from Cllr Ewan Tomeny, Dave Bradburn, Wirral Council’s director of public health, said he had been informed Wirral now had its first confirmed case, reports the LDRS.
He told an adult social care and public health committee on July 15 the patient was “a very young child,” adding at this moment in time authorities were assessing the risk and any exposure over the last four days.
He said while the Wirral’s vaccinations weren’t too bad at around 93% for one dose and below 90% for two doses, this is below what is considered needed for ‘herd immunity’ – meaning the wider population is protected from an outbreak.
He said this could lead to people being vulnerable to infection, particularly those who aren’t able to get vaccinated and they would be pushing for those who can to get vaccinated.
Mr Bradburn told the LDRS if people weren’t sure about what to do, they should contact their GP, adding: “The key message is measles can be a really serious illness. The main thing that people can do that is effective is to get vaccinated.”
He said a mobile vaccination hub called the Living Well Service bus would be visiting the Wirral soon, adding: “People do not even have to book in for that. They can just turn up and they can sort you out there and then.”
In a message to parents, he said: “If you suspect your child might have measles and they are not vaccinated, then the best thing is to ring your GP or NHS 111. Do not go down to your GP practice without speaking to them first because it’s so infectious. On average, one person with measles can infect 15 people.
“We do not want to scare people. We just want to reassure them that there is a simple solution and that is to get vaccinated. It’s not just about protecting their child, it’s about protecting people in the community in particular the people who can’t get vaccinated.
“It’s a little bit better [on the Wirral]. You are going to get pockets for various reasons why people will not be up to date with vaccinations.
“Those are the ones we are most concerned about. You just need someone to go into a health setting and there are other vulnerable people there and it’s so infectious that it’s very likely to spread to them.”
Mr Bradburn said misinformation linked to the MMR vaccine “has repeatedly been shown that that is completely false,” adding: “It’s a recognised safe vaccine. It’s far safer to get the vaccine than not.”
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the Government will be “doing a lot more” to improve vaccination uptakes.