Catherine Conlon: Add the measles vaccine to your summer holiday checklist
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Summer has finally arrived. Families and friends up and down the country are relishing the prospect of some sunshine as they enjoy a well-earned break in Europe or further afield.
But travelling brings the risk of unexpected bugs finding their way into your itinerary and turning a dream holiday into an expensive nightmare. With measles surging across Europe, it is more important than ever to ensure that you and your travelling companions are vaccinated.
Hot spots for measles in Europe in the last year — between April 2023 and March 2024 — include Romania, where a measles epidemic has been declared with 4,773 cases, Turkey (4,698), UK (1,008) and Austria (456). Currently, measles cases in the UK are centred in and around London.
Measles has a devastating effect on health, with young children most at risk of severe complications. High rates of hospitalisation and long-lasting weakening of children’s immune systems can occur — with more than half of those who contracted measles in the World Health Organization European region in 2023 requiring hospitalisation, the WHO warned recently. People most at risk include infants (under the age of one), pregnant women, and those who are immunosuppressed.
“No one should suffer the consequences of this devastating but easily preventable disease,” said WHO regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge.
There are now 47 confirmed cases of measles in Ireland according to the latest official figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) up until June 5. Since the start of the year, there have been seven outbreaks of the disease, with between two and five confirmed cases in each outbreak.
Surprisingly it is not just young children that are vulnerable. The latest figures show that people aged 25-34 make up the highest proportion of cases (10), followed by those aged 15–19 years and those aged 10-14 years.
Several of the cases involved passengers on flights that were infectious while on board and resulted in passengers and crew on board also being at risk of exposure while confined in a tight space, requiring a public health alert to be issued.
These numbers are likely to rise exponentially as the holiday season kicks in, with passengers at risk of exposure as they travel back and forth across Europe and further afield.
So what can travellers do to reduce their risk of infection while on holiday?
The critical step is to get vaccinated.
The MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. Two doses are required to give the best protection. MMR vaccine is recommended to be given to babies at 12 months. It is available for free through your GP practice. Children should get the second dose of MMR vaccine when they are in junior infants at school.
The National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) recommend that if a child is aged 6-11 months and travelling abroad this summer, they should be considered for an MMR vaccine before they travel because of the high incidence of measles in many countries.
Maternal antibodies may compromise the effectiveness of the vaccine at this age and therefore the MMR vaccine should be administered again at 12 months, at least a month later than the initial vaccine, to ensure maximum protection.
It is never too late to get the MMR vaccine, and it is recommended that older children and young adults who have not received it, or are not sure if they have, should be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Younger men tend to be the cohort at greatest risk. A recent Irish study estimated that almost one in five males between 18 and 19 are non-immune and the figure is high among young adults in general, with just over 10% of people between 18 and 35 having no immunity.
The likely reason for the high levels of non-immunity stems from misinformation in the past about the MMR vaccine that falsely linked it to a risk of autism. For those still uncertain, the link between MMR vaccine that was originally published in in 1998 has been entirely debunked.
completely retracted the paper in 2010. The authors were subsequently found to be guilty of deliberate fraud in that they picked and chose data that suited their case; they falsified facts. has published a series of articles on the exposure of the fraud, which is alleged to have taken place for financial gain.
Scientists and organisations across the world spent a great deal of time and money refuting the results of a minor paper in and exposing the scientific fraud that formed the basis of the paper. Appallingly, parents across the world did not vaccinate their children out of fear of the risk of autism, thereby exposing their children to the risks of disease and the well-documented complications that accompany measles infection.
Those children, born around the time the paper was released in 1998, are now young adults in their mid to late 20s — one of the cohorts shown to have a high rate of infection as well as a high rate of non immunity to measles.
Isn’t it time we corrected that and ensured all these young adults are protected with a safe and effective vaccine?
Parents are often concerned about the risk of MMR vaccine if their child has an egg allergy.
MMR vaccine can be given to children with a severe egg allergy. A severe allergy to the MMR vaccine is extremely rare even in children with a serious egg allergy.
The HSE states that it is not necessary to avoid the MMR vaccine if your child dislikes eggs or has diarrhoea or stomach pains after eating eggs, and you do not need to take any special precautions. If you have any doubts, talk to your doctor or nurse giving the MMR vaccine.
Side effects with the vaccine include the possibility (in one in ten children) of some discomfort, redness, or swelling around the area where the injection was administered, or a slight fever.
One in 20 may get a rash six to 12 days later. While this is often termed ‘mini measles’, it is not contagious. The MMR vaccine does not shed, so there is no risk of spreading measles infection after vaccination.
The effectiveness rate of the vaccine is pretty impressive — offering good protection for 99% of people against measles.
When the vaccine was introduced in Ireland in 1985, the number of cases dropped from 10,000 a year in that year to 201 in 1987. Because measles is so infectious, the number of cases of measles and measles complications would explode rapidly if children were not given the MMR vaccine.
As measles continue to surge in Europe and further afield, if you are planning to travel, check your vaccination records now. If you or your family or adult friends are not vaccinated against measles, rectify that now that so that you are all fully protected when you travel and will not have your holiday marred by a nasty and highly infectious disease that may have lifelong implications.
- Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork