YOUNG people are being encouraged to make sure they have had both doses of the MMR vaccine before going on holiday to Europe where there are large outbreaks of measles.
Cases of measles also continue to rise across England in unvaccinated people of this age.
The vaccine is available free to anyone who has not received both doses as a child.
It protects against measles, mumps and rubella – all of which can be very serious diseases and are highly infectious.
While vaccine uptake levels in the UK in young children are currently very high, coverage levels dipped to a low of 80 per cent in 2003.
This means there is a significant number of unprotected teenagers and young adults who could catch measles both in England, particularly in environments of close mixing such as summer festivals and when they travel abroad for the summer holidays.
