The UK is at a tipping point, according to health officials, with low uptake of vaccinations putting children at risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from entirely preventable diseases. Recent figures from UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) report 934 confirmed cases of measles in England since October 2023. Measles is highly infectious and when vaccination rates go down, it can spread quickly. The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine provides effective protection, but only 85% of children starting primary school have had the two jabs required - well below the 95% target needed to stop it spreading. Other vaccines, including whooping cough, polio, meningitis and diphtheria, have seen declines in uptake, which means that levels of immunity across the population are no longer enough to prevent outbreaks, according to the UKHSA.
So what's behind the reluctance to get vaccinated? No surprises, the start of this progressive decline can be traced back to the COVID-10 pandemic. During this period, people's reluctance to get vaccinated became a subject of national concern and pressure fell upon the UK's health authorities to understand the complex range of reasons behind it. Among the reasons given were concerns around the safety of a vaccine developed so quickly, a refusal to have the vaccine on religious or other ideological grounds, as well as prejudices stoked by misinformation about the vaccine and its effects distributed via social media.
Now, as branding and communications specialists, we sit up and take notice whenever challenges like this arise. What are the real barriers? How do we overcome them? What are the messages we need to get across? These are the questions we'll typically askwhere the required outcome from the project is ultimately a change in behaviour. It's an approach we've applied most recently in our work for the NHS on a campaign to reduce sexual harassment in hospitals and clinics, also on a project to increase participation in a mass transport consultation for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. How then has the UK responded to the current MMR crisis and how has that response been informed by learnings from the pandemic? Over the first three months of 2024, the UKHSA rolled out a multi-media campaign urging parents and carers to book their children in for missing vaccinations with their GPs. At the heart of the campaign is a video in which the children themselves present the case for vaccination and remind parents of the risks to their health if they are not vaccinated. "If we're not vaccinated, we're not protected" is the central message. It's a clear emotional appeal. And early results suggest it's working.
Between 1 Jan and 24 March 2024, a total of 360,964 MMR vaccinations were delivered, up almost a quarter (23%) from 293,847 in 2023. This included 187,737 first doses and 171,635 second doses.
So, why does it work? To begin with, the campaign implicitly acknowledges that parents and carers don't necessarily take a polarised view of vaccination – they're neither completely pro-vaccine nor completely anti-. Most are on the fence, but that doesn't mean they'll respond positively to lecturing or scare tactics. So, while the campaign delivers the hard facts, by giving the children a voice, it plays to a fundamental parental instinct to protect one's kids. This approach confirms a key learning from COVID vaccination campaigns. Success is not just a matter of identifying the barriers to change and coming up withan appropriate response; equally important is who delivers that response.
That's true of the campaign material itself and also of the work going on in the community to support the campaign. This involves trusted community leaders engaging directly with parents in areas where low uptake of the MMR vaccine is of the greatest concern. While health authorities are aiming for vaccination levels of 95% or more, even a few pockets of resistance can cause problems – especially when they are concentrated in close-knit inner-city communities. Of course, not every parent will be convinced, but if the campaign can persuade even a few to reconsider, that's a positive step towards wider protection.
