Measles outbreak likely in Ireland as Government triggers plan for catch-up vaccines

The Department of Health is considering a programme to vaccinate teenagers and young adults against measles as the HSE warned there is a high probability of an outbreak in Ireland.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly will brief the Cabinet on Tuesday that a significant increase of measles cases notified in Europe this winter, coupled with falling rates of MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine uptake, has raised concerns about wide transmission of the disease in Ireland this year.

One-fifth of the population in some counties have no protection against measles, due to low vaccination rates.

Vaccination rates have fallen below the critical level of 95 per cent in Ireland, and almost 1 in 5 males aged 18 and 19 are unvaccinated.

The Government hopes a catchup programme for Leaving Cert and college students would bring in many of those whose parents were put off the MMR jab because of a false and now discredited link with autism.

Measles is one of the most contagious viruses in the world but is preventable by two doses of vaccine. The Covid-19 pandemic massively disrupted routine immunisation efforts worldwide, and the bounce back has been slow.

A report from the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in November last year said there had been a "staggering" annual rise in measles cases and deaths globally in 2022.

Ireland recorded only four cases of the disease last year, imported from outside the EU in a single family outbreak. No cases were reported this year up to January 27th.

Last month the UK declared a national incident over a measles outbreak, signalling a growing public health risk. In some areas and groups in London, coverage of the first MMR dose at 2 years of age was as low as 69.5 per cent.

In July last year, British health authorities warned of a steady rise in measles cases and the risk of a resurgence of the virus, particularly in London where it said an outbreak of 40,000 to 160,000 cases could occur due to low vaccine coverage rates.