From the BMJ, 24 August 2026:
Australia’s hard fought herd immunity to measles is under threat, with a study finding that its population level immunity is hovering just above the World Health Organization’s recommended threshold.
Australia introduced measles vaccination in 1968, starting with a single vaccine dose for children aged 12-23 months.
In 1993 the childhood immunisation programme introduced a second dose, initially in those aged 10-14 years, then in those aged 4-5. Since 2013 the second dose, in the form of the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, is recommended at 18 months.
In 2014 the World Health Organization certified Australia as having achieved measles elimination, and it has maintained that status since, despite isolated cases, most commonly in people who have returned from overseas.
Now, research published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health finds that population level immunity to measles dropped to 93.3% in 2019.4 The authors attributed this partly to lower immunity among children who received only one dose of the measles vaccine, particularly as uptake of the second vaccine dose took time, and partly to waning immunity over time. Read more (paywall).
Bianca Nogrady 