A mother is urging parents to vaccinate their children after her daughter passed away due to complications from contracting measles as an infant. Rebecca Archer’s daughter, Renae, died at the age of 10 from a rare brain disease called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which can be triggered by measles. Renae was too young for the measles vaccine when she caught the virus at just five months old.

The UK recently lost its measles-free status due to a rise in cases, including the tragic death of a child in England in 2024. Rebecca emphasizes the importance of vaccination, stating that had more children been immunized, Renae might have been spared from measles. She stresses the significance of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccine, revealing that Renae did not receive it as she was under 12 months old.

Rebecca recounts the devastating impact of Renae’s illness, noting how the measles infection led to her daughter’s decline over a decade before her passing. Despite the UK regaining measles-free status in 2021, outbreaks in late 2023 caused the virus to spread rapidly again, resulting in a surge of cases in 2024.

Dr. Manisha Kumar, the chief medical officer for NHS Greater Manchester, hopes that sharing Rebecca’s story will encourage parents to verify their children’s vaccination status. She emphasizes the necessity of maintaining vaccination rates to safeguard individuals and communities from preventable diseases like measles. Dr. Kumar underscores the importance of completing the two-dose MMR vaccine for long-term protection against measles, mumps, and rubella.