“With almost 30,000 cases of measles and eight deaths from the disease recorded in the European Union so far this year, a leading health official is urging doctors to do more to ensure parents have their children vaccinated with” the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, Reuters reports. Marc Sprenger, director of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), “said MMR vaccine coverage rates across the region are currently around 90 percent, leaving significant groups such as children or young adults unprotected,” and that “it was crucial for pediatricians and family doctors to give balanced, evidence-based information to help parents decide on vaccinations,” Reuters writes.

Some “parents’ refusal to have their children vaccinated because of fears of links to autism have caused a rise in measles cases in the United States and Europe in recent years,” the news agency notes, adding that “France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland have experienced major measles outbreaks this year, each of them recording thousands of cases” (Kelland, 9/30).