The Isle of Wight is below target for MMR vaccination and a public health councillor has voiced disquiet over families that are “anti-vaccination”.
Liberal Democrat Michael Lilley pointed out the Island’s 85.80 per cent inoculation rate at five years old for measles, mumps and rubella, marked in red by council officers, at last Thursday’s (19th February 2026) adult social care, public health and housing needs committee meeting.
Lilley: The percentage vaccinated “doesn’t give you herd immunity”
The Ryde Appley and Elmfield representative said the percentage “doesn’t give you herd immunity”, defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as indirect protection from an infectious disease which occurs when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity through previous infection.
Herd immunity against measles requires about 95 per cent of a population to be vaccinated – the same as County Hall’s target – according to the WHO.
Confirmed cases in England
The councillor’s comments come after 130 confirmed measles cases were reported in England between 1st January and 16th February 2026, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Councillor Lilley said,
“We’re at 85.80 per cent of measles vaccinations which actually doesn’t give you herd immunity.
“We obviously have families on the Island that are anti-vaccination and how do we tackle that?
“I do know at certain schools – we’ve got a bit of measles out there at the moment.”
Dennis: We’re working with the school age immunisation team
Nicola Dennis, public health consultant at the Isle of Wight Council, responded,
“The (public health nursing) service does promote vaccination but also within the team – I lead on health protection and data and intelligence – we’re working with the school age immunisation team in the NHS to try to understand which schools have got lower uptakes and how we can work with those schools to change things.
“We do recognise some of the rates aren’t where we want them to be and they are going down and this is something we really do want to prioritise, especially as you say with the national situation around the measles outbreak in London and the West Midlands.”
Lilley: We need to get to the herd immunity rates
Councillor Lilley said,
“We need to get to the herd immunity rates.
“It’s an issue we need to tackle because we’ve got outbreaks right across the UK.”
Dennis: Deep dive into screening and immunisations
Ms Dennis added,
“It’s our second health protection board in May.
“We’ve invited NHS England to do a deep dive into screening and immunisations with us. We’re going to talk in detail about what we can do across the Island across all of our immunisation and screening services.
“We absolutely see it as the key priority for health protection on the Island.”
Highly contagious disease
Measles is a highly contagious, serious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death, according to the World Health Organisation.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
