Measles: Health warning for holidaymakers after outbreak in South West region

West Australians travelling to the South West or overseas for the Easter school holidays have been urged to ensure they are protected against a measles outbreak which has spread to 13 cases.

The urgent warning came as the latest data revealed WA has the lowest child vaccination rate for measles in the country.

In the year to September, 90.88 per cent of two-year-olds in WA had received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is administered twice before a child reaches 24 months as part of the national immunisation schedule.

Rates are even lower in the South West, where eight of the State’s 13 cases have been recorded. Just 82.5 per cent of two-year-olds in Augusta, Margaret River and Busselton have received the MMR vaccine, compared to 89.60 in Bunbury. Manjimup had the lowest rate in WA at 81.33 per cent.

WA also has the lowest percentage of fully immunised two-year-olds in the country, at 89.23 per cent. A 95 per cent vaccination rate is required to reach herd immunity.

Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Page said WA’s susceptibility to vaccine-preventable infectious disease was a “sleeping giant of public health ready to awaken.”

Dr Page said falling childhood vaccination rates was in part due to vaccine scepticism, fatigue and complacency and possibly because today’s parents had little “lived experience” when it came to vaccine-preventable disease.

“There could be something in the fact that the parents of 2025 have no lived experience with people around them suffering from vaccine-preventable illnesses that used not to be so rare as they are now,” he said.

“Those of us who believe in science and modern medicine, therefore, cannot ourselves be complacent about this movement that is occurring in our community.”

The Department of Health issued its latest warning on Wednesday after the State recorded its 13th case of measles this year.

Authorities have identified 28 exposure locations across the State, including in Perth’s southern suburbs and several locations in the South West, including Bunbury Regional Hospital and Bunbury Regional Prison.

WA Health’s communicable diseases director Paul Armstrong said holidaymakers should check to ensure their immunisations were up to date to protect themselves against measles, particularly when travelling overseas.

“These include popular holiday destinations for Western Australians such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries in south and southeast Asia,” Dr Armstrong said.

“Measles is highly infectious and can cause serious illness, particularly in babies and young children.

“It often requires hospitalisation and can lead to complications such as ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis (swelling of the brain), and in rare cases, blindness or death.

“We are fortunate to have the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine which is extremely effective and free for all Western Australians.”

People born between 1966 and 1993 may have received only one dose of vaccine in the immunisation schedule.

“We now know two doses are required to provide higher levels of long-term protection,” Dr Armstrong said.

“If you’re not sure whether you have received both doses, an extra dose of measles vaccine is safe and will make sure you are fully protected.”

Symptoms of measles include fever, fatigue, runny nose, red eyes as well as a cough, which is followed several days later by a prominent red rash.

The rash usually starts on the face and head before spreading to the rest of the body.

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