Fears of an impending measles resurgence today sparked a national 'call to action' by health chiefs who are alarmed over vaccination rates slumping to a 10-year low.
As few as half of children have had both measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jabs in parts of London.
Similarly low levels are also seen in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.
Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UKHSA, begged parents to check their child's immunisation status, warning that the public had 'forgotten what measles is like' and that it was still a 'serious illness'.
She also pleaded with the 'Wakefield generation' — adults born in the late 1990s or early 2000s — to check their own medical records.