Fears of measles spike amid low MMR rates in parts of Scotland

The figure was 5.1% lower than the national average rate and emerged as a second case of measles was confirmed in Scotland on Thursday, sparking calls for people to get vaccinated. 

Cases in the UK are almost nine times higher than the number of people infected this time last year - with 258 people infected during the first three weeks of 2024 compared to just 30 cases at the start of 2023. The UKHSA says the majority of those confirmed are in children aged under 10.

READ MORE: Measles vaccine call after second case confirmed in Scotland

The World Health Organization issued an urgent warning last Tuesday over measles after an “alarming” 30-fold rise in cases across Europe.

Fergus Ewing, SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn, said the low vaccine uptake rate in NHS Highland was "serious cause for concern" and blamed the low vaccine uptake there on the transfer of immunisation services from GP surgeries to health boards.

Mr Ewing said it had resulted in a service which was harder for patients to access and that one local doctor had warned it could lead to a "preventable tragedy". He said the new model was more expensive to the public purse.

READ MORE: Measles vaccine rates are higher in Scotland than in England

The former Cabinet minister said he had sought a meeting with health secretary Michael Matheson to ask him to allow GP practices in NHS Highland to resume providing immunisation services but his request had been turned down.  

"The low uptake of MMR vaccine in particular could lead, as Nairn GP Adrian Baker has said, to a preventable tragedy," Mr Ewing, pictured below, told The Herald.

"The problem is because of bureaucracy, pure and simple.  The 2018 GP contract required vaccination and other services to be taken from GPs and handed to health boards.  

"Their schemes are rigid, more difficult for people  to access, and more expensive.  Fewer folk get their vaccinations for measles and flu  — but  despite the service being worse,  it actually costs far far more:  it costs £4 million a year more in the Highlands, according to the  NHS Highlands own internal report."

READ MORE: Measles symptoms, advice and how to get MMR vaccine
 

He added: "The NHS  top management both in Highland and Edinburgh know this fine well, and I have pressed them and the Scottish Government, without success, for the past two years to permit GP practices in Highland to resume provision of these services.

"This has already been permitted in the Inner Hebrides I believe. But they thus far have blocked this for the rest of the Highlands despite similar problems of distance travel costs lack of public transport and so on which have caused the lower vaccination uptake.  

"Whilst I had an amicable meeting with the First Minister when he was health secretary, it led nowhere, and my later request to meet his successor Michael Matheson was rejected. I am  now to try once again to get a meeting with him, and Dr Baker on the basis of these shocking statistics. 

Mr Ewing has been seeking a meeting with health secretary Michael Matheson. Photo Getty.

"In the light of these statistics being publicised, perhaps at long last the Scottish Government and health managers will finally take heed of what Dr Baker, campaigners in Nairn led by retired GP Alastair Noble, and myself have been telling them?

"There is a means to vary the GP contract, and this has been used for the islands in Argyllshire, but my impression is that the senior health officials in Edinburgh have essentially put pressure on the NHS Highland management  not to rock the boat. Even though GP practices as in Nairn  and elsewhere in the Highlands would want to resume provision of these services and that they believe very strongly that this is indubitably in the best interests of their patients.

"This is sadly a perfect and shameful example of a giant  and  unaccountable bureaucracy failing to listen to people on the ground, and imposing on the Highlands and rural Scotland a metropolitan designed model of service provision.   

 READ MORE:  Measles, MMR, vaccine hesitancy: How at risk is Scotland?

"These statistics now prove that the system is failing my constituents and demonstrate that there is now , in the view of the GPs I have dealt with a potentially serious risk to public health.   I regret that it is necessary for me to speak out in these plain  terms -  but that is my strong duty as constituency MSP, and my job.  If my constituents had  wanted a doormat they would have gone to B and Q!"   

Measles can be a very serious illness in all age groups though children younger than five and adults over 20 are more likely to suffer from measles complications which include pneumonia and encephalitis (swelling of the brain). Patients may need to be hospitalised and can die.

Author Roald Dahl lost his seven-year-old daughter Olivia to measles in 1962 before a vaccine against the disease had been developed. Twenty-four years later, he wrote an essay about her death as a plea to parents everywhere to vaccinate their children.

In contrast, NHS Dumfries and Galloway had the highest rate at 91.9% of five year olds fully immunised, while the figure for NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Glasgow and NHS Lothian were 91.6%, 89.9% and 89.8%, over the same period. 

A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: "MMR uptake in Highland and Argyll and Bute is lower than we would want it to be. Having two doses of the MMR vaccine is the best way to be fully protected against measles. Measles can be a very serious condition and can affect people of any age if they have not been vaccinated. We are working on ways to increase uptake across our area and we would encourage people to take up the offer of this vaccine if they have not already done so."

The World Health Organisation reported an huge increase in numbers affected by the disease last Tuesday, which it said had accelerated in recent months. More than 30,000 cases were reported between January and October last year, compared with 941 cases in the whole of 2022 – a more than 30-fold rise.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) has urged the public to get the (MMR) vaccine.

Anyone who hasn't had two doses of the MMR vaccine, which is free, as well as parents and carers of children who have missed a dose, is encouraged to visit the NHS Inform website to find out how to arrange an appointment in their local health board area.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The MMR vaccine is extremely effective at preventing measles. We encourage all parents and carers to ensure that their children attend their childhood vaccinations when invited to give them the best possible protection.

“Following agreement of the 2018 GP contract, responsibility for vaccine delivery rests with NHS Health Boards.  This frees up valuable GP capacity and resources.  We recognise that there are a number of unique challenges in providing and accessing vaccination services for those residing within rural and island communities and we are working with NHS Highland to improve performance and develop a more patient-centred and locality based service.”