Not enough children are vaccinated against measles and cases could continue to rise, health expert warns

Not enough children are vaccinated against measles and cases could continue to rise, according to a professor of international health. Two more measles cases were confirmed last weekend at the Bunbury Regional Hospital, taking the State’s total confirmed cases to 12. Several South West locations from Bunbury to Busselton have been listed by WA Health as potential exposure sites. Curtin University’s Jaya Dantas has predicted the number of measles cases in WA will continue to rise because the State’s childhood vaccination rates aren’t up to scratch. Professor Dantas said to have herd immunity against the virus, a childhood vaccination rate of 95 per cent was required, but WA was currently only sitting at about 90 per cent. “In regional areas, usually there’s lower rates because sometimes people can’t get to a vaccination site,” she said. “Sometimes in certain areas, people are more sceptical of vaccinations, people are worried about the side effects. “At the same time, there’s a lot of misinformation that goes on and this misinformation causes a problem.” According to data from the Australian Immunisation Register from 2024, 91.64 per cent of five-year-olds in Bunbury were fully vaccinated, compared to 88.11 per cent in the Augusta, Margaret River and Busselton area and 83.26 in Manjimup. Professor Dantas said small outbreaks of measles were inevitable in Australia due to the mobile population and rising clusters of cases overseas. “We didn’t have a lot of cases during COVID because our borders were so protected, but when we opened the border, we have had cases,” she said. “In 2023 we saw about 26 cases in Australia, in 2024 it went up to 57 cases, but now, as of date, we already have nearly 40 cases — 37 infections in Australia in the first three months. “We are going to cross the 57 case mark from 2024, I think, because we are only three months into the year.” Professor Dantas urged West Australians to check if they were up to date with their vaccinations, insisting “it was the right thing to do”. The Department of Health issued an alert on Thursday last week, saying it was working closely with the Bunbury Regional Hospital to identify and manage any exposure sites to staff, patients and visitors. Acting director of the communicable disease control directorate Paul Effler said people who have visited exposure sites should moniter for symptoms which include fever, fatigue, cough, runny nose and sore eyes, followed by a red, non-itchy rash three or four days later. “People born after 1965 are encouraged to check their immunisation status to make sure they have had two doses of the measles vaccine,” he said. The full list of exposure sites are regularly updated on the Department of Health website.