London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Mass measles vaccination campaigns and a global increase in routine measles vaccination coverage saved an estimated 20.3 million young lives during those 15 years say UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Measles elimination in four of six WHO regions is the global target at the midpoint of the Global Vaccine Action Plan implementation.

Robin Nandy, UNICEF Immunization Chief, said: "Making measles history is not mission impossible. We have the tools and the knowledge to do it; what we lack is the political will to reach every single child, no matter how far. Without this commitment, children will continue to die from a disease that is easy and cheap to prevent." 

Are there any other factors behind the global failure to eliminate measles? Dr Heidi Larson, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Vaccine Confidence Project, said:

"This report highlights how effective the measles jab is but also a failure to reach the required number of children to beat the disease. Defeating measles should be within our grasp.  We need more political will, but also to build public will.

"Public confidence in vaccines varies widely between countries and regions around the world. It is vital to global public health that we regularly monitor attitudes towards vaccines and act swiftly to investigate what is driving the shift in attitudes. This gives us the best chance of preventing possible outbreaks of diseases like measles."

Earlier this year, Dr Larson led research published in EBioMedicine which found that the European region is the most sceptical about vaccine safety, with France the country least confident with 41% of those surveyed disagreeing that vaccines are safe.

Related links

• The Vaccine Confidence Project
• The State of Vaccine Confidence report - 2016