Britain is said to be at serious risk of a measles outbreak because fewer young children are now vaccinated against the disease.

There are fears hundreds of cases in the West Midlands are an early warning sign and without intervention many more young children will get sick.

The World Health Organisation says for the UK to achieve and sustain measles elimination, 95% of people must get a jab. But we are way-off this level of herd immunity.

In many areas uptake rates hovers in the 70s and 80s – while in some pockets of London the percentage coming forward is well below half. All figures low enough to allow a nasty disease – that can lead to severe complications and even death – to gain a foothold.

It would be easy to lay the blame at the feet of anti-vaxxers. People content to peddle myths and fears about the risks of immunisation that are only then amplified when they sweep through social media where fact-less stories can spread like wildfire.

But I think the real fault lies in the steady scaling back of NHS community healthcare. Where overstretched health workers have neither the time nor the resources to build meaningful, trusting relationships with those they want to treat.

We know general skepticism about vaccines has risen post-pandemic. Misinformation (and now debunked theories) about the MMR jab’s link to autism, no doubt, haven’t helped.

But rewind to a time when community midwives, health visitors, GP surgeries and mother-and-baby clinics all knew their families well and think about how much easier it was to reach the nervous, the unsure or the skeptical. And to also quash unfounded rumours.

Once upon a time GPs would have had the time and opportunity to talk to parents at length about upcoming vaccinations. Worried families could ask questions when they took their baby to be weighed. Those families who didn’t show, because perhaps home life is chaotic and life admin gets forgotten, might even get a knock at the door the next week from a passing health visitor checking all is well and urging them personally to come forward.

Think BBC Call the Midwife-style healthcare, which wasn’t always just good Sunday night television, but once upon a time a reality.

No one has the time now to speak with vaccine-hesitant parents repeatedly until their fears are allayed or to work regularly enough with cautious communities until trust is won and the benefits of immunisation are understood. Staff turnover alone means very often, patients don’t even see the same friendly face twice.

And while text reminders and letters may be sent to those remain a constant no-show – does anyone then pay them a meaningful visit or perhaps even bring that healthcare to their door? Judging by the sheer numbers we’re now talking about who have missed their vaccination, I doubt it’s even possible now.

The UKHSA says if we don’t improve vaccine uptake rates there will be severe consequences.

But what must be improved first is the amount of money the NHS has to invest in its community care and then it can turn things around.