The “Wakefield generation” is just part of the reason for low MMR vaccine coverage. Local knowledge and connection with communities will be key to turning it around and that needs resourcing, reports Emma Wilkinson
The World Health Organization has warned of an “alarming” and accelerating 30-fold increase in measles across Europe. On 19 January the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declared a national incident in England amid spiralling cases and a drop in vaccine uptake.
Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent and long discredited research linking the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine with autism has cast a long shadow. It remains part of the picture but the reasons behind falling vaccine rates are now more complex, GPs and public health doctors say.
Last year only 84.5% of 5 year olds in England had had both doses of the MMR vaccine, a figure that hides pockets of particularly low coverage. In Birmingham, the epicentre of the current measles outbreak, uptake was 75%. Ther
Patients with gout who did not experience recurrent flares had a shorter mean time between diagnosis and the start of urate-lowering therapy compared with those who had ≥1 flare.