Vaccination benefits need to be explained better, report says

Wales’ chief medical officer has warned of the threat from anti-vaccination campaigners.In his annual report, Dr Frank Atherton said people needed to be made aware of the benefits of vaccines.In January, the Royal Society for Public Health said “misinformation” about the safety of vaccines was being spread on social media.Unicef says more than half a million children in the UK were unvaccinated against measles from 2010 to 2017.The chief medical officer’s report says the rate of two year olds in Wales getting the first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is below 95%.That is the rate required to protect a population from a disease, according to the World Health Organisation.Uptake of MMR immunisation% of children, aged twoLocal authorityMMR take-upMerthyr Tydfil97.2Blaenau Gwent96.9Anglesey96.8Caerphilly96.7Rhondda CT96.5Neath PT96.1Flintshire96Swansea95Wrexham95Gwynedd94.7Bridgend94.6Powys94.6Torfaen94.6Conwy94.1Denbighshire93.9Cardiff93.3Pembrokeshire93Monmouthshire92Ceredigion91.9Newport91.6Carmarthenshire91.3Vale of Glamorgan90.2Quarter Oct-Dec 2018Source: Public Health Wales, February 2019Latest figures show 94.3% of two year olds received the MMR vaccine in Wales – but more than half of local authority areas were below the 95% target.The lowest proportion was just over 90% in Vale of Glamorgan, but the immunisation programme was doing better on Anglesey and in the south Wales valleys, traditionally more deprived parts of the country.The highest take-up was in Merthyr Tydfil,… Read full this story

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