Dear Friend,

Good information from trusted institutions is a vital tool for voters when making decisions about their health. When institutions like NHS England get that wrong we’re here to investigate and ask for a correction. 

That’s what happened on 22 January when NHS England claimed more than 3.4 million children in England under the age of 16 were “unprotected” against measles. This figure was then widely repeated in the media.

After we asked a series of questions, NHS England admitted that the figure is actually an upper estimate of the number of children aged 1-15 who might have missed at least one MMR vaccine dose.

Dr David Elliman, a community paediatrician at Great Ormond Street Hospital, told us via the Science Media Centre of the 3.4 million figure:
 

“They may be unprotected, but it is not strictly accurate to say they are unprotected.” He added: “About 95% of children who have had one dose of vaccine will be protected, but this will go up to 99% after the second dose. There is no simple way of identifying those children not protected after the first dose and so all are offered a second dose.”

While it’s clear the original NHS claim was incorrect, it’s impossible to reliably say how many children are “unprotected”, or have missed MMR doses. However, public data does suggest that the true figure may be much lower than 3.4 million.

AI portrait of Prince George and Princess Charlotte circulating online

How many Labour MPs are standing down at the next election?

Government borrowing is not forecast to increase year on year

Petition continues to grow: Over 16,000 have now added their name

• Parade of mounted guards through London unrelated to death of Jacob Rothschild
• Ukrainian Embassy did not tell French farmers to stop protesting
• Misleading graph on civilian airstrike deaths in Gaza doesn’t use comparable data

Find these updates useful? We'd be incredibly grateful if you could share our fact checks and help more people access good information.