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Measles cases in Europe and Central Asia have climbed to their highest level for more than a quarter of a century, according to the World Health Organization, more than doubling between 2023 and 2024 as vaccination rates failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels.
Outbreaks of the viral disease have killed children in the US and UK, stoking fears that vaccine hesitancy in high-income countries is threatening hard-won gains from mass immunisation programmes.
“In many ways, vaccination has been a victim of its own success,” said Regina De Dominicis, Europe and Central Asia director for the UN children’s agency Unicef.
“Today’s generation has not witnessed the devastating impact of vaccine-preventable diseases — leading to complacency and making it easier for misinformation to take hold.”
Reported measles cases surged from 60,756 in 2023 to 148,974 last year in the WHO’s 53-country European region — which includes Central Asian countries — according to figures released by the UN’s global health body on Tuesday. Cases are now at their highest level since 1997, Unicef added.
A child in Liverpool in England died after contracting the illness, the BBC reported on Sunday. Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital said last week that a number of “seriously unwell” children had been admitted with measles and urged people to get vaccinated.
Even when not lethal, measles can cause blindness and damage organs.
Vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy’s installation as US health secretary has raised further concerns about inoculation rates. Kennedy has sought to cast doubt on the safety of the jab against whooping cough, another disease that is resurgent in Europe and Central Asia.
Whooping cough cases have soared to the highest level since records began in 1980 in the WHO European region, hitting almost 300,000 last year, up from 87,558 in 2023 and 6,345 in 2022.
The bacterial disease can be particularly dangerous for babies, increasing the risk of breathing difficulties, pneumonia and seizures.
The proportion of children fully vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and hepatitis B was at 91 per cent last year, down from 92 per cent in 2019, the WHO said. The coverage level generally considered to create so-called herd immunity for measles is 95 per cent.
Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) and polio jab coverage was at 93 per cent, two percentage points below the pre-pandemic level.
The rise in measles cases is seen as a leading indicator of wider problems with disease prevention. Since the pathogen is highly contagious, infections may reveal patients who are under-vaccinated for other diseases too.
Kennedy caused widespread alarm last month by attacking the vaccine against whooping cough, which is also highly contagious, at a fundraising event for the Gavi international vaccine alliance.
Health experts criticised his remarks, noting he failed to mention the many studies backing its safety.
Poor vaccine access, inadequate clinical infrastructure and patient concerns about safety were likely the main reasons for stagnating or falling rates, said Dr David Elliman, a child community health expert and honorary senior associate professor at University College London.
“Well trained healthcare professionals are fundamental to reassuring parents with solid evidence that the vaccines in use are effective — and where serious side effects do occur, they are heavily outweighed by the benefits,” Elliman said.
