Parents warned of back-to-school measles surge

Very young children are at highest risk of severe illness and lifelong complications from measles.

Babies like Ezra are too young to be vaccinated but ensuring slightly older children have had the jab can also protect them, health experts say.

“It only takes one case to get into a school or nursery where many children are unprotected for numbers to suddenly surge,” Dr Vanessa Saliba, from the UK Health Security Agency, said.

NHS National vaccinations and screening director Steve Russell said measles clearly “can be really dangerous” and it was “critical” children were vaccinated.

Major measles outbreaks in England in the past year, in London, the West Midlands and the North West, sparked a campaign for parents to catch up on missed jabs.

Two MMR jabs, external offer the best and safest protection against measles, external.

One is offered at the age of one, a second at three years and four months, as part of the NHS routine childhood-vaccination programme.