UK Battles Anti-Vax Misinformation After Child's Death From Measles

A child's death from measles has sparked urgent calls from British public health officials to get children vaccinated, as the UK faces an onslaught of misinformation on social media, much of it from the US.

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LONDON -

Measles is a highly infectious disease that can cause serious complications and is preventable through double MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jabs in early childhood.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting on July 14 confirmed to Parliament that a child had died in Britain of measles.

No details have been released, but British news outlets The Sunday Times and Liverpool Echo reported the child had been severely ill with measles and other serious health problems in Alder Hey hospital in the north-western city of Liverpool.

Anti-vaxxers quickly posted unconfirmed claims about the death on social media.

One British influencer, Ms Ellie Grey, who has more than 200,000 followers on Instagram, posted a video denying the child died from measles.

"Measles isn't this deadly disease...it's not dangerous," she said.

Ms Grey criticised Alder Hey hospital for posting a video "really, really pushing and manipulating parents into getting the MMR vaccine".

Her video was reposted by another British influencer, Ms Kate Shemirani, a struck-off former nurse who posts health conspiracy theories.

"No vaccine has ever been proven safe, and no vaccine has ever been proven effective," she claimed falsely.