“The measure for how infectious a disease is, known as R0, for measles is higher than 10 – whereas COVID (dependent upon the variant) was much lower, around less than 5.

“This means we need over 90% of the population to be immune or you're going to start seeing cases growing. We have childhood vaccinations for measles which for many years have helped us to get rid of the disease.

“Unfortunately, if those vaccination levels drop then we will start to see cases going up. That's what we are seeing at the moment - according to NHS data around 85% of children received their second MMR jab at 5 for 2022/23, which is much lower than it needs to be and this is quite variable across different parts of the country, with lower rates in some places, which is a worry.”