Trust in vaccines has fallen post-COVID. Now Knowsley has a measles outbreak

Dear readers — a warm and slightly muggy welcome to your Monday briefing. If only the weekend’s oppressive heat was met with equal amounts of glorious sunshine. Ah, to be British, hey?

Catch up on The Post:

• On Saturday, investigative journalist Matt O’Donoghue published a thrilling piece about the return of Liverpool property developer Peter McInnes. Many will know the name from the demise of the much-lauded Chinatown development, which left investors broke after the company behind it, North Point Global, collapsed in 2018. Since then, McInnes has been busy — heading to Costa Rica and Dubai to set up a new scheme, this time in the world of crypto. If things couldn’t get any stranger, the man himself is now accused of defrauding investors to the tune of $400 million, and appears to be in possession of Liverpool’s famous Banksy artworks that mysteriously disappeared from the city a decade ago. 

We’re not the only ones hot on the tail of McInnes. Yesterday, The Sunday Times also picked up our story. It’s clearly a must read — make sure you catch up here.

• Last week, Laurence also took a deep dive into our net zero goals as part of Answers in The Post. He spoke to experts, academics and local authorities to find out if Liverpool's target to hit net zero by 2030 was realistic. Find out what they all said here.

Local festival returns with home town headliners

From today’s sponsor: Newton Music Festival returned last year after a 15-year hiatus, with home town headliners The K’s ensuring it was a massive hit. The festival is back in the beautiful Mesnes park, just a 15 minute train from Lime Street, from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd August. Across the three days you can expect a range of acts and atmospheres, from an up-beat Friday night to fun tributes on the Sunday. The line-up includes The K’s, The Nextmen and Dave Haslam. Day tickets start at £15 and Post readers can get an exclusive 10% discount using the code ‘1qjpad’  – click here to book.

We’ve just hired a new member of staff, Grace Moriarty, to oversee our sponsorships! If you’d like to sponsor some editions of The Post and reach over 32,000 readers, you can get in touch at grace@millmediaco.uk. 

The big story: Knowsley’s measles outbreak is just part of a larger problem

Top line: 13 probable cases of the virus — including 11 children — have been recorded in Knowsley. But that number is expected to rise, and the causes are multifaceted.

Context: On Friday afternoon, the BBC implicitly linked an outbreak of measles in the Merseyside borough to a fall in vaccination rates. Dr Sarah McNulty, director of public health at Knowsley Council, was quoted saying that a third of people between the ages of two and 30 in the borough had not had either dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab. 

Speaking to Radio Merseyside, Dr McNulty said: "Because we haven't seen measles for a while, I think people forget that measles can be a serious illness.” According to the NHS, measles is a contagious disease that starts with cold-like symptoms followed by a rash and sometimes spots in the mouth, and in severe cases may cause meningitis, seizures or blindness. For pregnant women, it can cause low birth weight, premature birth, or even miscarriage or stillbirth. Dr McNulty also listed other potential complications of measles such as pneumonia and hospitalisation, and warned that deliberate "anti-vaccination sentiment" and “misinformation” about the MMR jab was part of the reason for falling vaccination rates. 

Measles outbreaks have become a concern across the country and worldwide. According to government figures, last year there were 2,911 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England — the highest number since the 2012-2013 outbreak. Last week, medical journal The Lancet reported that global coverage for vaccines including measles had slowed between 2010 and 2019 in over 100 countries, and that the COVID-19 pandemic had “exacerbated these challenges”. In 2024, the number of children receiving a first dose of the MMR vaccine fell to 88.9% in England, the lowest level for 14 years.

Meanwhile, according to the Vaccine Confidence Project, run by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in 2018 90% of UK adults said that vaccinations were safe and effective. By 2023, this number had dropped to 70%. Meanwhile, those saying that vaccines have harmful side effects that are not being disclosed to the public rose from 19% in 2019 to 30% in 2024.

Last year, vaccination rates in some parts of Liverpool dropped below 50%. This led to concerns that Merseyside could be at the sharp end of a potential outbreak. Professor Calum Semple, a consultant at Alder Hey, warned that measles could cause "several hundred cases... deaths and disability". "This is an entirely preventable disease,” Professor Semple said in 2024. “The vaccine is 97% effective”. 

The 2012-2013 measles outbreak, which involved more than 300 confirmed cases on Merseyside and thousands across the country, was also partially blamed on vaccine reticence. In 1998, The Lancet infamously published a paper by researcher Andrew Wakefield that linked the MMR vaccine to autism.

Wakefield was struck off by the General Medical Council in 2010 and his claims debunked. Nevertheless, his paper adversely affected MMR vaccination uptake across the UK, and MMR uptake remained below herd protection levels for several years.

But speaking about Liverpool, Professor Semple also said there was higher vaccination uptake in the city during the 2012-13 outbreak. And in 2017, a British Medical Journal (BMJ) paper also found that Liverpool’s large outbreak in 2012-13 was despite the fact that MMR immunisation uptake rates on Merseyside were higher than the national average. 

So what happened in 2012? And does it have implications for 2025? Of the 300 Merseyside cases in 2012-2013, 70 were in children under the age of one who were too young to be vaccinated. But that same BMJ paper also found that children from “the most deprived neighbourhoods are still least likely to receive MMR vaccination”. 

According to the Institute of Health Economy, Knowsley has the second highest levels of deprivation nationally, with the joint-highest proportion of its population living in income deprived households in England. Between 2010 and 2019, the council lost 45% of its budget due to austerity measures — a cut of some £100 million. 

What can be done? Papers linking economic deprivation to low vaccine uptake in Liverpool recommend health measures such as targeted and timely catch-up vaccination campaigns. The BMJ paper also called for a robust system in schools, including immunisation checks upon school entry and school leaving.   

This need to focus on school-age children has been picked up by hospitals, charities and politicians. In September last year, Alder Hey Children’s Charity launched its Put Children First campaign because the hospital’s clinicians, academics and experts felt they needed to raise the alarm on the “children’s health emergency” that included a rise in “diseases in children which should have been eradicated” such as measles. Knowsley’s MP Annaliese Midgeley personally delivered a message on behalf of the children’s charity to Keir Starmer. 

The rise of vaccine misinformation and scepticism since the COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the issue, and better education both in schools and of the wider public may be needed as part of or in tangent with these targeted campaigns.

But the correlation between deprivation and the low vaccination uptake rates that can lead to outbreaks also suggests that better funding is needed for local services to reverse the effects of austerity. 

Bottom line: When it comes to public health crises, cuts to public services represent a false economy. Preventative measures such as MMR vaccines are always preferable to the human and financial cost of dealing with the disease during an outbreak. It’s important that officials both in local and central government take measures to improve not just NHS accessibility but better social care, education, housing, and refuse collection. Evidence shows that those living in areas of low income and employment, high crime and barriers to housing and services face the worst healthcare inequalities in relation to healthcare outcomes.

But statements by Dr McNulty and other experts do imply a degree of responsibility on individuals and parents too.

What do you think of the measles outbreak and the link with vaccine scepticism? Let us know in the comments below. 

Photo of the week

A rather brilliant photo sent in by one of our readers, Claire Allaway. We’re still loving all your pictures from the festivities of the Liverpool parade last month — keep sending them our way. 

Have a photo to share? Email editor@livpost.co.uk with your best snaps for a chance to be included in next week’s edition. 

Your Post briefing

On the grapevine: Another titbit for those of you following Abi’s investigation into Big Help. In the most recent instalment in the saga, employees of Big Help Group and Big Help Trading were told they would be losing their jobs, and wouldn’t be paid for their past month’s work. Despite this, those same employees have now told The Post they are unable to claim any unemployment benefits, as Big Help have allegedly lied to HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), telling them their employees have been paid wages in the past month. Employees attempted to contact Big Help about this, but — as one employee tells us — they have been “completely ignored”. We also contacted Big Help Group director Joe Birley, who told us the decision to falsely inform HMRC that staff had been paid was done “without the consent or knowledge of the directors.” “HMRC have been duly informed and are dealing accordingly,” he said. The Post has contacted HMRC and the DWP for a statement too, and will update this briefing when their responses land. Know any more about this story? Email abi@livpost.co.uk. 

The Be Free Campaign, a mental health charity that offered free counselling to young people affected by the Liverpool FC parade crash, has found the response “encouraging”. On 26th May, over 100 people were injured when a car drove into crowds attending the parade. Danika Leahey, Be Free’s director of operations, said her charity went on to help over 20 families in the following week. "It was encouraging to see the amount of young people coming along and with their peers," she said. Many wanted help with the unexpected physical after-affects of experiencing trauma, including shortness of breath and panic attacks. Ms Leahey said Be Free are still having to challenge the narrative that only those physically injured needed support.

And a Liverpool artist wants to create an art trail along Penny Lane to breathe new life into the street. Ian van de Waal, the man behind the proposed trail, says he hopes to encourage more tourists to spend time in the area by creating a series of Beatles murals, plaques and maps. “The idea is to encourage people to walk along the street, take in all the history of the area, spend some money in local businesses and support the local economy,” he told the BBC. Currently plans are still being drawn up, but when they are finalised they will be submitted to Liverpool City Council for approval.

Post Picks

📕On Wednesday, Heswall Hall is hosting an event with Jo Hamilton for the release of her memoir, ‘Why Are You Here, Mrs Hamilton? My Extraordinary Story: The Post Office, Horizon and My Fight for Justice’. Post readers may recall our piece with former postmaster Pete Murray. Read that here — and buy a ticket for Wednesday’s event with Jo here.

🎸American rock band Rival Sons also head to Liverpool on Wednesday, over at Mountford Hall. Doors open at 7pm — tickets here.

🍸On Saturday, enjoy an award-winning gin and cultural tour of some of the coolest bars and secret drinking dens in town. The tour includes at least four samples of gin and four gin cocktails. Find out more here.

🕹️Also on Saturday: the return of Aintree Comic Con. The event runs from 10am to 5pm and includes over 100 stalls full of collectibles and merchandise from comics, films and TV. Find out more here.

Recommended reads 

📕The return of an age-old question: why are there so many Scousers at Glastonbury? From rumours of secret high-speed internet in Liverpool to the See Tickets servers being secretly based in Merseyside, each year people wonder why so many Scouse folk get their hands on sought after tickets to the popular music festival. We absolutely love this piece from VICE on the topic. 

📕If you enjoyed our weekend read on Liverpool property developer Peter McInnes’ trip to Costa Rica and Dubai, The Sunday Times published their take yesterday. Read that here.

Thanks again to Newton Music Festival for sponsoring this edition. Click here for tickets.