Children face being forced to take three weeks off school in isolation as measles cases rip through the country

Pupils could be excluded from school for three weeks if they come into contact with someone with measles as authorities battle to contain an outbreak.

Health leaders have told parents that unvaccinated children would be forced to isolate at home if they are exposed to the highly contagious disease.

The drastic measures resemble those imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic when people were forced to self-isolate and children were made to learn remotely.

The UK last month lost its World Health Organization measles elimination status after 2,900 cases were confirmed in England in 2024, the highest level for more than a decade.

The Department of Health and Social Care has launched a new advertising campaign urging parents to ensure their children are up-to-date with vaccinations and encouraging them to persuade other mums and dads to do the same.

It estimates routine childhood immunisation prevents around 5,000 deaths and 228,000 hospital admissions every year in England.

Dudu Sher-Arami, director of public health at Enfield Council, north London, a current measles hotspot, wrote to parents saying: ‘If your child is identified as being a close contact of a person with measles and they are unvaccinated, they may be excluded from school for 21 days.’

Enfield has also called on anyone who thinks they have measles to ‘isolate yourself if possible’, especially from babies, people with weakened immune systems and unvaccinated pregnant women.

Dr Zubir Ahmed, health innovation and safety minister, said it is vital children are vaccinated

Meanwhile, national measles guidelines from the UK Health Security Agency say unvaccinated contacts of people with measles, such as siblings or classmates, should be advised to ‘self-exclude’ during this period.

Headteachers ‘may wish to consider excluding unvaccinated pupils who have been exposed because of the risk to other students’, they add.

A message posted on Enfield’s NHS Ordnance Unity Centre For Health’s website said there is a ‘fast-spreading measles outbreak’ with infections ‘across at least seven schools in Enfield and Haringey and it is spreading’, adding that one in five children have been hospitalised due to measles and all of them had not been fully immunised.

Just 64.3 per cent of five-year-olds in Enfield received both doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubela) vaccine in 2024/25.

This is one of the lowest rates in the country and far below the 95 per cent threshold needed to prevent outbreaks.

National uptake was 84.4 per cent that year, down from a high of 88.8 per cent a decade ago.

Dr Zubir Ahmed, health innovation and safety minister, said: ‘Vaccination is one of the greatest public health successes of our time, protecting children from serious and sometimes life-threatening diseases.

‘But with vaccination rates falling and the UK losing its measles elimination status, it’s vital we act now.

‘Our campaign will help parents get clear, trusted information about childhood vaccines and the protection they offer.

‘By making vaccines easier to access — including the introduction of chickenpox protection into the childhood programme with the MMRV vaccine — we are supporting families to keep their children safe and healthy, while helping to protect communities across the country.’