Measles and MMR vaccinations (FOI)

Request

A

Please kindly provide the amount of cases of measles cases in Jersey over the past 10 years, broken down by year.

B

Please also provide the amount of measles / MMR vaccinations given in each of these years.

Response

A

There have been fewer than five laboratory confirmed measles cases in the period 2009 to 2017 inclusive.

Please note that due to the small number of laboratory confirmed measles cases, Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 (the Law) has been applied in order to protect the privacy of individuals. The actual figure is, therefore, represented as fewer than five.

Data prior to 2009 is not held in our current IT system, and therefore, Article 3 of the Law has been applied as the information is not held.

B

The number of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations given each year as recorded on the Jersey Child Health Computer System and shown in the table below:

Please note that we do not hold information on MMR vaccinations that may have been given to adults within GP surgeries during the past 10 years, and the data above represents only those vaccines provided through HSSD.

A single measles vaccination is not licensed for use nor available in Jersey.

In Jersey, as in the UK, children are offered their first MMR vaccination just after the age of one year and their second MMR vaccination is offered at the age of three years, four months.

Further information about children’s vaccinations, including MMR, can be found on our webpage at the following link:

Baby / pre-school vaccinations

Articles applied

Article 3 Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.