Key information
Date: Thursday 04th July 2019
Time: 10:00am
Motion detail
“The London Assembly notes with concern the low rates of vaccination for Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) for children in London, compared to elsewhere in the UK, and further notes that Public Health England has attributed recent outbreaks of measles to children missing out on vaccinations.
“The Assembly also notes the large discrepancy in vaccination rates between London Boroughs. While no London borough meets the MMR national target of 95% vaccination by two years of age, there is a 17.5 percentage point gap between the best and worst areas of the city.
“This Assembly believes, in line with overwhelming medical evidence, that vaccines are crucial to promote herd immunity, whereby the potential for any one case of a disease to spread is strongly limited, and to protect immunocompromised children, who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons, from harmful infections.
“This Assembly further believes that vaccination programmes have been hindered by the loss of £66.8m from the public health allocation to London Boroughs since 2015, and continuing high vacancy rates in the NHS. In the first three months of 2019, there were 1236 community health service jobs vacant in London, which covers such vital staff as school and district nurses.
“This Assembly calls on the Mayor to work with the London Prevention Partnership Board, early years centres, schools and health professionals, through Healthy Schools London and Healthy Early Years London, to increase the uptake of vaccines and to dispel myths about vaccines.
“This Assembly also calls on the Mayor to include education about the history, science and importance of vaccines in the London Curriculum, focusing on key figures and points in the history of vaccines such as Edward Jenner and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.”
Response to motion
Motions Response from Mayor of London