The UK’s Charedim will be among the “under-vaccinated communities” targeted by a new Government drive to boost rates of “life-saving” measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccinations.

Last year, the JC reported that the strictly-Orthodox community of Stamford Hill, in East London, was hit by an outbreak of the infectious disease amid falling vaccination rates, attributed by a local GP to “a mistrust of secular authorities”.

More than 60 cases were reported between October and December and more than 500 children received emergency vaccinations in the outbreak, which coincided with similar measles scares in New York and Israel.

In the latter, more than 4,000 cases were reported in a 12-month period, and this month an El Al air stewardess died after contracting a virulent strain of measles on a flight from New York to Tel Aviv.

On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered health leaders to renew efforts to ensure at least 95 per cent of children receive both doses of MMR – with just 87 per cent currently receiving their second jab.

It comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) withdrew the UK’s “measles-free” status, three years after it was granted.

The JC understands that the Charedi community will be the subject of specific attention in the Government’s plans to “strengthen the role of local immunisation coordinators – healthcare professionals that promote vaccines particularly with hard-to-reach families”.

Dr Joseph Spitzer, a well-known local GP at the Cranwich Road Surgery in the heart of Stamford Hill, reported that vaccinations rates have risen “considerably” since the measles outbreak in late 2018, although new cases are still being reported.

He told the JC: “Measles is still going around. But immunisation rates have improved considerably in the Charedi community, definitely. It’s quite clear – we know that.

“I think it’s down to the public health campaign, the increasing awareness and the press.

“Any initiative by anyone is to be commended. The higher the immunisation rates achieved the better and I think anything short of 100 per cent, in whichever community, is not good enough.”