A CATCH-UP clinic is taking place tomorrow at the General Hospital as Public Health officials seek to maintain Jersey’s high take-up of the MMR vaccine after the Island’s first confirmed case of measles in eight years.
The clinic is open to anyone – child or adult – who has missed their first or second dose of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as part of the standard childhood vaccination programme.
Before the new measles case, confirmed this week, Jersey had been free of the highly contagious disease since 2016.
Other jurisdictions with lower levels of vaccination coverage have reported measles outbreaks – 2,149 cases were reported in England during the first seven months of this year, compared with 362 across the whole of 2023.
Jersey’s uptake of the MMR vaccination is above 95%, and it was in parts of England where coverage was significantly below this level that a high proportion of the positive cases had been seen, notably parts of London and the West Midlands.
Public Health deputy director Grace Norman told the JEP earlier this week that measles was “preventable by vaccination and once fully immune you cannot catch, carry or pass on the illness”.
She added: “The best way for people to protect themselves and their children is through the MMR vaccination, which is highly effective and safe, so we encourage Islanders to make sure that they and their children are vaccinated.”
The vaccination reminder is particularly focused on children and younger adults: more than 90% of cases in England this year have involved people aged under 35. Ms Norman said it was likely that those born before 1970 would have developed natural immunity during childhood as a result of the high levels of the disease at that time.
Although the MMR vaccine is typically aimed at young children, with two doses given around a child’s first birthday and after they have reached the age of three of one, the jab can be administered to older children and adults if they missed out on the pre-school vaccination.
