The mother of a ten-year-old girl who died from a rare brain disease linked to measles has urged parents to vaccinate their children. Renae Archer, from Salford, caught measles at five months old, before she was old enough for the MMR jab. She died in 2023 from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a fatal complication of the virus.
Her mother, Rebecca, believes Renae would not have contracted measles if more children had been vaccinated. She said that after the initial illness, Renae seemed healthy, but a decade later she began having seizures and was diagnosed with SSPE. The family ultimately had to make the decision to turn off her life support.
Ms Archer spoke out as part of a joint NHS and UK Health Security Agency campaign, warning that measles vaccine uptake is falling. There were outbreaks across the UK when Renae caught the virus, with around 1,000 suspected cases in Greater Manchester. Research attributed low uptake among older children to unfounded claims linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
Measles can cause life-changing complications such as blindness, deafness, and brain swelling. In 2024, confirmed cases spiked across England, with 40 cases in the North West between October 2023 and March 2024. Dr Manisha Kumar, chief medical officer for NHS Greater Manchester, stressed that two MMR doses are needed for lifelong protection and urged parents to get their children vaccinated.
