Guidance

Measles: information for schools and healthcare centres

Updated 24 August 2023

Applies to England

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Measles and vaccination

Measles outbreaks happen when not enough children have been vaccinated.

Measles can be a very serious disease, leading to ear and chest infections, fits, diarrhoea, and damage to the brain. Measles can kill.

Your child is at risk of measles if he or she hasn’t had the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination.

Two doses of MMR vaccine are needed to get the best protection.

If your child is due to have had 2 doses of MMR but has not yet received them, no matter what age they are, you should contact your GP to get them vaccinated as soon as possible [footnote 1].

If you can’t remember if your child has had any, 1 or 2 doses of MMR vaccine, check his or her personal child health record (the Red Book). If this doesn’t help, speak to your GP.

If you don’t know how many doses your child has had, it’s better to have 2 doses of MMR vaccine now rather than risk leaving them unprotected.

Timing of MMR vaccinations

The best times are between 12 and 13 months of age and again at 3 years and 4 months, with one dose on each occasion. But, if your child wasn’t vaccinated then, they can be vaccinated at any age with 2 doses one month apart.

Side effects

Your child may get the symptoms of measles, mumps and rubella for up to 6 weeks after the vaccination but in a very much milder form. This proves that the vaccine is working and your child is building up resistance to future contact with the viruses that cause the 3 diseases. Not all children show these symptoms but that doesn’t mean the vaccine isn’t working.

Outbreaks of measles

Measles is a highly infectious disease, spreading quickly from person to person, especially in schools. A child with measles will infect almost all unprotected children they have contact with.

Since the end of 2017 there has been an increase in measles globally which has affected the UK. This has resulted in some spread into wider communities, in particular in under vaccinated groups

Parents in outbreak areas

As with many diseases, once you have had measles, you don’t catch it again because you have built up a natural resistance to it. So, if you’ve had measles or 2 doses of MMR vaccine you do not need to get vaccinated now.

Further information

For more information about measles and MMR see the NHS.UK website.

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  1. In response to a local outbreak then the 2 doses can be given one month apart from the age of 18 months. ↩

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