Vaccinations for measles in Sheffield are a ‘long way’ from World Health Organisation levels, a council meeting has heard.
An outbreak of the disease, which happened at a Sheffield School, was discussed a meeting of Sheffield City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board on 28 March.
Measles is a highly infectious disease which can have serious health implications for children and cause massive disruption to health services. But it is preventable through vaccination.
Ruth Granger, Consultant in Public health for Sheffield City Council, said: “In November,we had an outbreak linked to a nursery as part of a school in North Sheffield.We activated the mass treatment and vaccination plan. That was really succcessful.
“But I think one of the really important things we should consider is about our underlying vaccination uptake with measles. We’re quite a long way from the World Health Orgnisation level which is set at 95%.”
The data shows that the percentage of children in Sheffield who hade two dose of measles virus reached 86% last month.
The council has acknowledged that schools are doing their best to promote vaccines.
Ms Granger added, “I know the day job of schools is deliver education to children,but I really want to say thanks for their caring about families and communities. Their trusted voice can encourage them to come and be vaccinated.”
Outbreaks of measles can be disruptive to the economy, healthcare systems and can have tragic consequences.
Greg Fell, the director in public health for the city council has resent a letter to NHS England requesting data on the impact of vaccination programs and send a follow uo letter emphasizing the health and education impacts of school based vaccination efforts.
There are still challenges of vaccination processes,including lack of flexibility and insufficient support from the system.
Zac Macmurry,Co-chair of Sheffield Health and Wellbeing Board said, “Again, I want reiterate my frustration with the system that actually stopped.
“We need different approach nationally. The figure I saw recently is really stark.I I believe that the areas, particularly with different cultural groupings within your population. It is really hard to deliver general practice, particularly the sort of preventative stuff that we talk about. “
