The rate of take up for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) triple jab has fallen to a 12-year low, according to figures from the NHS.
And the proportion of children fully immunised by their fifth birthday is below the national average in Brighton and Hove.
Figures from NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) suggested that 92.5 per cent of children had had one dose of the MMR jab by five years old in 2022-23. This was the lowest level since 2010-11.
Five-year-olds who had had the second jab by last year, 2022-23, was at 84.5 per cent, also the lowest level since 2010-11.
The rate in Brighton and Hove was 84.4 per cent, or fewer than 17 out of 20, with the area ranked 91 out of 149 “upper-tier local authorities”.
Neighbouring East Sussex and West Sussex had higher vaccination rates.
West Sussex was ranked 38th, with an MMR second jab take up rate of 89.5 per cent, while East Sussex was ranked 70th, with a rate of 86.8 per cent.
The figures were down from five years earlier when 84.7 per cent of Brighton and Hove children had been fully immunised against MMR by their fifth birthday. The rate for 2017-18 compared with an England average of 87.2 per cent.
The latest figures emerged as vaccination programmes across England failed to meet the uptake recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for 2022-23.
The WHO recommended that, to prevent outbreaks, at least 95 per cent of children nationally should have jabs for diseases that could be stopped by vaccines.
But NHS data showed that no routine vaccine programme met the threshold during the 12-month period.
The British Society for Immunology’s chief executive Doug Brown said: “Vaccines are the safest and most effective method to protect our children against disease.
“In the past year, 12 out of the 14 childhood vaccinations have seen their uptake decrease, putting our communities at higher risk of infection and illness.”
Dr Brown added: “Lower levels of vaccination mean that harmful diseases can spread, infecting people who have not been vaccinated, including vulnerable individuals who are unable to have vaccinations such as young babies, people with compromised immune systems or people with cancer.”
I will fight for the right to not have a vaccine but in this instance it seems a little daft to not inoculate your kids with a tried and tested vaccine?
Wakefield and Walker-Smith still have a lot to answer for.
I was a practice manager and remember what happened when their study was publiised and vaccination rates fell and to one ones surprise infections rose.
I had no issues with parents having a rational discussion with their GP/Nurse/Health Visitor and making their own decisions but they need to be aware of the consequences. These infections are not minor ilnesses.
So doctors lied and are caught lying during all of Covid, but still trust us on everything else.
It’s a conversation that I have had with a number of my patients over the years. Wakefield’s convicted fraud was more damaging than anything.
Vaccines are safe for the majority. Some people do have side effects. Rarely they can also be severe. Some people are unlikely to have a bad response to a disease because they are healthy, some might work with vulnerable people who rely on herd mentality.
I respect people’s choice, even if I believe it to be unwise, but if they do so based on false, incomplete, or misrepresented information – that is a failure on me to educate that person, and I have let that person down.