Successful vaccine programme has protected Blackpool's children from this serious illness

Dr Arif Rajpura, director of public health at Blackpool Council, told a meeting there have been no cases of measles in the borough thanks to MMR vaccination uptake reaching levels of 95 per cent which is in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) targets.

The MMR vaccination, which protects against measles, sees children receive two doses before the age of five. But Dr Rajpura told councillors many children in Blackpool had missed out in the past.

In order to catch up, the public health team had commissioned a service to target children aged between five and 18 and in some cases had even visited their homes to ensure they received their MMR dose.

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He told a meeting of the council's tourism, economy and communities scrutiny committee: "When people think about measles they forget how serious it can be and some kids are left with lifelong problems due to measles.

"Between January and July 2024 we delivered 418 catch up vaccinations and I am pleased to say we haven't had a single case of measles in the town."

But Dr Rajpura warned there was 'vaccine fatigue' when it came to other illnesses, with fewer people having taken up the flu or Covid vaccination this winter.

He said: "Next year we need to be more proactive as these two vaccines are important for people who are at risk or they will end up in hospital. If you went to the Victoria hospital a few weeks ago there were lots of people with flu and we could have prevented that."

He said there had also been lower than usual levels of flu and Covid vaccination among NHS staff, and said better ways of providing the vaccine needed to be considered such as offering it to hospital staff as they left their shift instead of expecting them to attend clinics.

He added a Vaccine Bus, funded by the council during Covid out of its Covid grants, had also proved to be a successful way of delivering vaccines.