Nearly 169 million children worldwide missed out on the first dose, with an average of more than 21 million children missing out every year from 2010 to 2017. More than 2.5 million children in the United States, and more than half a million children in France and Britain, did not get the first measles vaccine dose between 2010 and 2017. “If unvaccinated children are very spread out, then the risk is, of course, lower,” she added. Britain eliminated measles in 2016, the government said. But though the disease is no longer native to the country, Britain has experienced recent measles outbreaks, and immunity levels among mostly young people remain lower than required.

Source: International New York Times April 25, 2019 14:49 UTC