BRITAIN (CelebrityAccess) Public Health England, a department of the British government, has advised that festival goers get a shot of the MMR vaccine prior to visiting a music festival.
There have been 440 laboratory confirmed cases of measles since the beginning of the year, according to IQ magazine, with 164 in London, 86 in southeast England, 78 in West Midlands, 42 in the southwest, and 37 in West Yorkshire.
The increase has been dubbed an “outbreak.” There were no cases reported in Britain in 2016, according to the World Health Organization (but nearly 2,000 reported in 2012) according to the Telegraph. The 2012 number triggered the PHE, the Department of Health and NHS England to launch a “catch-up campaign” to immunize more children.
The recommended vaccine is a cocktail that includes a vaccine for measles as well as for mumps and rubella.
Festivals “pose an ideal opportunity for the infection to spread quickly,” PHE’s Dr. Mary Ramsay said, because of the close proximity of the festival goers.
“This serves as an important reminder for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children at one year of age and as a pre-school booster at three years and four months of age,” she added.
