Waltham Forest is intensifying its efforts to combat a decline in MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccination rates among children. The move comes amid growing concerns over outbreaks and a broader push to improve health protection across the borough.

A smiling man with two children, possibly representing family well-being and community health.
A smiling man with two children, possibly representing family well-being and community health.

The Health and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Committee met on Thursday 10 July 2025, to discuss the health protection, vaccination and screening update. The committee reviewed the information within the report, asked questions and made recommendations.

The Vaccination, Immunisation and Screening Strategic Oversight Group (VIS) has identified under-5 immunisations, particularly the MMR vaccine, as a top priority for 2025. This focus is driven by a concerning trend: Over the past decade, there has been a slow national decline in the number of parents and carers getting their children vaccinated with the MMR and other childhood vaccines, according to the meeting report. Feedback from local communities also indicates high levels of vaccine hesitancy and vaccine fatigue amongst Pakistani, Black African, Black Caribbean and Black Other ethnic groups. Measles is highly contagious, and even a small drop in vaccination rates can lead to a surge in cases.

Several strategies are being implemented to address the MMR decline. In 2024, local ICB funding supported a communications campaign, a targeted call-recall project via the GP Federation (FedNet), community engagement with populations showing lower uptake, a GP registration project run by the health visiting service, research by Healthwatch to understand vaccine attitudes among the Romanian population, and training for frontline staff to have informed conversations with parents about vaccination.

Extensive community engagement is underway with target populations that have lower uptake, specifically the Other White (hypothesised to be mainly Eastern European, and specifically Romanian) and Black/Black British communities. To address vaccine hesitancy within the Romanian population, the council is commissioning Healthwatch to conduct research to understand vaccine attitudes and is undertaking ongoing community engagement work.

According to the Health Protection, Vaccination and Screening Update, data collected as part of the FedNet call-recall project in 2024 revealed that the Other White and Black/Black British ethnic groups were the most under-vaccinated for MMR.