Measles timebomb... just 49 per cent of children have MMR

Less than half of London's five-year-olds have been vaccinated against measles amid warnings of an epidemic in the capital, it emerged today.

The revelation raises fears of further outbreaks in the city as children start the school year with no protection against the disease.

Figures from the NHS Information Centre show the percentage of children being immunised against measles, mumps and rubella has dropped in the past two years.

London has the lowest uptake of the MMR jab in the country with only 49 per cent of children having had the full two doses of the vaccine by their fifth birthday. That compares with a national average of 74 per cent.

Dr Brian McCloskey, director for London of the Health Protection Agency, said: "Uptake needs to be above 90 per cent for both doses of the vaccine to ensure we don't see an epidemic in London." The fall in vaccinations comes after massive publicity surrounding measles outbreaks sweeping the capital - there were 257 cases in the first five months of this year compared with 167 in the whole of last year.

James Cleverly, chairman of the London Assembly health and public services committee, said: "Immediate action is needed to protect Londoners from disease before the risks to public health - which are already at unacceptably high levels - increase even further.

"Complications from measles and mumps can be devastating to children and their families. Parents need to give their children a healthy start in life - vaccinations are an effective means of preventing potentially life-threatening diseases."

To get the best results children should have their first MMR vaccine by the age of two and the second by the age of five. But Dr McCloskey said the capital's transient population could be behind the low level of vaccinations. " Historically London has low uptake of both doses of the MMR vaccine, this is possibly due to the fact that it has quite a transient population making it harder to keep track of children's vaccination uptake," he said.

There have also been problems with the computer system which records how many vaccinations have been given in London. "It is worrying that 11 London Primary Care Trusts did not report any data, as without knowing the true scale of the problem we cannot begin to tackle this danger to public health," said Mr Cleverly.

The health agency said it was seeing "continued outbreaks" of measles in London and stressed that it was never too late to complete the MMR course.

Today's figures come one month after health bosses launched a measles vaccination campaign in the capital. Ministers announced each primary care trust in London would be given £60,000 to spend on vaccinating every resident under the age of 18.