Back to basics: the miracle and tragedy of measles vaccine

As we herald progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and strive to meet them, we have an approaching public health target that is sometimes forgotten. The global community has resolved to reduce measles deaths by 95% by 2015, and five of the six WHO regions plan to eliminate measles within this decade. The current outbreak of measles in Swansea, UK, is tragic in many ways, with hundreds of ill children, health staff stretched and working overtime to care for patients and trace contacts, the need for emergency vaccination clinics, and the spectre of death from measles.

The Swansea outbreak, like all measles outbreaks in Europe during the past 3 years including those in other parts of the UK, France, the Ukraine, Spain, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, and Switzerland, was inevitable due to large numbers of people who were unimmunised. These costly outbreaks were completely preventable.