AROUND 200 people in Essex are being tracked down to receive a vaccination after a suspected outbreak of measles.
It is thought to involve eight people, all of whom attended a local day service for people with learning difficulties.
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Measles is a highly infectious disease and potentially fatal illness that causes coughing, rashes and fever.
The disease can be prevented through two doses of the MMR vaccine.
Health officials believe around 200 people may have come into contact with the patients who attended the day service for people with learning disabilities.
A Southend Council spokesman said: “Collectively, we are adopting a precautionary approach to this situation to help interrupt any potential further spread.
“As an immediate priority, and alongside our colleagues at the Clinical Commissioning Group and Southend Care (who run day services for people with learning disabilities), we are identifying and contacting those people who may have been directly exposed and are offering those people MMR vaccinations if they are not already immunised.
“At this time, we expect this offer will be made to approximately 200 people.”
The spokesman added: “Southend Care have closed Project 49, in Alexandra Street, for the rest of the week, and we have advised a small number of other day services in the area to close today, as a precautionary measure.”
In August the World Health Organisation warned that Britain had lost its “measles-free” status, three years after the virus was eliminated in the country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for health leaders to renew their efforts to ensure 95 per cent of the population have had both doses of the MMR vaccine.
The Government is concerned about the rise of anti-vaccination messages on social media and their influence on parents who go on to shun vaccines.
Currently only 87.2 per cent of children have had the second dose of the jab, down from a high of 88.6 per cent in 2014-15.
There were 532 confirmed cases of measles in the UK during the first six months of 2019, and more than 2,400 cases from January 2016 to June 2019.
Across the globe in 2018, measles killed about one in every 75 infected children, leading to more than 100,000 deaths.
