Measles: children and vulnerable communities face disproportionate harms

The recent measles outbreaks across the UK, US, and Europe are more than a series of vaccination failures. They are warnings of deeper public health breakdowns—in immunity, service coverage, and, importantly, trust. These outbreaks are a “canary in a coal mine” for inequities and weaknesses in healthcare systems.1Measles is not only a biomedical event; it is a manifestation of complex inequalities and socioeconomic dynamics that disproportionately harm children and vulnerable communities.I survived measles as a child growing up in one of the most impoverished areas of Sri Lanka.2 After coming to the UK, measles felt like something I had left behind—a disease confined to lower income countries and the disaster settings where I would later work professionally. Recent outbreaks have shown this is no longer the case.The World Health Organization confirmed that the UK lost its measles elimination status in January 2026, meaning that measles has become endemic in the...