A million children who missed out on getting the MMR vaccine in England are being targeted in a campaign to raise the level of protection against measles after an outbreak in Wales. 2013 is set to be the worst year for measles outbreaks in 20 years
Secondary school children have rolled up their sleeves to receive the MMR jab in Teesside, one of the areas worst affected by the measles outbreak.
Around 70 children, more than 10 percent of the pupils at All Saints School in Ingleby Barwick, received the jab in the dinner hall after their parents consented.
Professor Peter Kelly, chairman of the Tees Outbreak Control Team, said there were 186 confirmed cases on Teesside since the new year, with a similar number suspected.
"It's quite a serious problem on Teesside," he said. "We have been aware of it since it started in mid-January and we have been working with our GP colleagues."We wrote to parents six or seven weeks ago to advise them to take their children, if they weren't vaccinated, to the GPs.
"We felt the extra step of coming to schools would give us that really comprehensive coverage of children we need to catch."There is a myth that it is just a childhood illness. People can be very poorly with measles and there can be some very serious complications."
2013 is expected to be the worst year for measles in the UK for the past two decades. Read more about the illness and how it is treated.
15 cases of measles have been recorded in the East Midlands in the first three months of this year.
13 cases of measles have been recorded in the West Midlands in the first three months of this year.