Scotland’s measles risk does not come from its own tiny ethnic minority groups but from ‘imported cases’

Professor John Robertson OBA

BBC Scotland, only, has an investigation today into the lower vaccine uptake among ethnic minority groups. The report has percentage and vulgar fraction descriptions of the shortfall but no actual figures so we cannot see just how many children are unvaccinated so we cannot really see the scale of the problem.

The BBC Scotland report opens with:

Last year data on childhood vaccines was broken down by ethnicity for the first time. It showed a wide variation in uptake across ethnic minority groups and Public Health Scotland called for more work to understand what is going on.

In some areas there is concerns that ethnic minority groups are falling behind the rest of the population when it comes to vaccines. For instance, the figures showed that almost a quarter of children of African descent in Scotland had not had their second dose of MMR by the age of five.

Uptake was also low for children of Caribbean or Black heritage. Measles cases have been increasing across Scotland and experts fear children are missing out on full protection against the potentially deadly disease by not getting their second dose.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd6geyjd15lo

The message is clear – Scotland faces a risk of the spread of the deadly measles virus because its own ethnic minority groups are not sufficiently vaccinated.

This is not true and the same data source used by BBC Scotland for their report makes that clear:

From Public Health Scotland on 4 March 2025: Immunisation and vaccine-preventable diseases quarterly report, October to December 2024 (Q4)

There were 24 laboratory-confirmed measles cases reported in 2024: six cases in the first quarter, eight cases in the second quarter, five cases in the third quarter and five cases in the fourth quarter. Of these 24 cases, 15 are thought to have been imported to Scotland (with four related to travel within the rest of the UK, and 11 related to travel outwith the UK), and with five further (secondary) cases resulting from contact with three of these imported cases. The remaining four cases were of unknown origin with no known epidemiological links to other cases or travel outwith Scotland.  The lack of onward transmission associated with the majority of these cases highlights the success of the MMR vaccination programme, the importance of maintaining high vaccine uptake in Scotland, and reflects the robust public health management of these

cases.  https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/immunisation-and-vaccine-preventable-diseases-quarterly-report/immunisation-and-vaccine-preventable-diseases-quarterly-report-october-to-december-2024-q4/#section-2

So, only 4 cases of measles in Scotland might be associated in some way with a decline in immunisation in Scotland’s own ethnic minority groups

8 thoughts on “Scotland’s measles risk does not come from its own tiny ethnic minority groups but from ‘imported cases’”

      1. If you are referring to me rather than yourself, no, I am not anti-vax but rather anti-stupid as I don’t like having alleged disease causing agents and toxic adjuvants injected into me on the grounds that this will be good for my health.

        And I don’t like to play Russian roulette even if you do.

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        1. In the US children have died, yes, died because their parents didn’t have them vaccinated against measles. That’s stupid, but obviously absolutely tragic for the children. Before vaccines so many children just did not make it to adulthood, devastating and it wasn’t that long ago either.
          Thank goodness for medical science.

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          1. What is stupid ArtyHetty is people thinking after 5 years of COVID 19 nonsense that being injected by toxic substances will save them from anything. I call such stupidity Long Stupid.

            I used to think vaccines were of some use, just not for the ‘flu as people fell ill anyway. Even I worked this out back in the 1980’s. Now I realise that they are all bad unless you are big pharma making a killing from the shots.

            The authorities rebranded the ‘flu by the way which is why the ‘flu almost disappeared from the statistics to be replaced by COVID 19. Didn’t you suspect anything?

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  4. https://whn.global/%F0%9F%9B%91-public-health-alert-nb-1-8-1-variant-spreading-across-asia-and-beyond/

    A new COVID-19 variant, NB.1.8.1, also called Nimbus, has been identified as responsible for a resurgence of cases in several Asian countries, including India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. This variant, a descendant of the Omicron subvariant JN.1, has been designated a Variant Under Monitoring (VUM) by the World Health Organization due to its increasing global presence and potential implications for public health. 🌍 Global Impact

    • India: As of May 27, 2025, India has reported over 1,000 active COVID-19 cases, with 104 cases in Delhi alone. The NB.1.8.1 variant has been detected in Tamil Nadu, while another subvariant, LF.7, has been identified in Gujarat. 
    • Hong Kong and Singapore: Both cities are experiencing significant spikes in COVID-19 cases. In Singapore, weekly cases increased from 11,100 to 14,200 in early May. 
    • Thailand: A notable surge has been observed, with cases rising from 6,000 to over 33,000 within a few days. 
    • It has spread throughout 22 countries so far. In the U.S., it has been traced to New York, California, Arizona, Ohio, and Rhode Island, according to Gingko Bioworks, the CDC’s airport testing partner.

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