Thousands of MMR vaccines have been stockpiled by the Government so anyone who has not had the jab can be immunised, it emerged last night.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs there was a 'national plan' in place in response to the epidemic in Swansea, where the number of measles cases has risen to 886.
He said: 'I want to reassure you we are taking this extremely seriously. In terms of making sure we have sufficient numbers of vaccines, ensure that we are talking in a targeted way to communities and to schools, that's absolutely going on.'
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has told MPs that thousands of MMR vaccines have been stockpiled by the Government so anyone who has not had the jab can be immunised
He told MPs on the Commons Health Select Committee yesterday that 'making sure we have sufficient numbers' of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was 'absolutely going on', The Times reported.
Mr Hunt was asked about whether there would be a national MMR vaccination campaign by Tory MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, a former GP, who said in parts of her Devon constituency 30 per cent of children had not had it.
Dr Wollaston said it was time for a 'national vaccination campaign' which would tell parents that by vaccinating their children 'you protect the whole community'.
Health officials are expected to announce shortly a 'catch-up' programme for people who have not been immunised.
The number of people infected with measles has shot up by more than 78 in just than five days, health officials have confirmed.
Last week the disease claimed its first victim - a 25-year-old father-of-one from Swansea.
Doctors warned this week that two million children are at risk of catching measles if the latest outbreak spreads.
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They said London, where nearly half of children have not had the jab, could be worst hit if cases of the disease spread from Wales.
Teenagers aged 13 to 15 are most at risk, as many were not vaccinated from the late 1990s, when a now-discredited scientific report was published linking the MMR jab with autism.
Labour MP Barbara Keeley, one of the MPs on the Commons Health Select Committee who questioned Mr Hunt yesterday, said MMR uptake was also low in parts of her Salford constituency.
Many children were not vaccinated from the late 1990s, when a now-discredited scientific report was published linking the MMR jab with autism
Mr Hunt told MPs: 'We certainly must not think of this as something that's [just] happening in Wales. I receive regular updates from the Chief Medical Officer. We have comprehensive plans in place.
'We need to use this as a moment to slay the myth about MMR. I do detect a turning point in terms of the public's attitudes towards this but there is still that critical 11 to 15 year old age group that may not have been vaccinated because they were toddlers at the time the MMR scare was so appallingly whipped up.'
MMR is administered in two doses - at around one year and again at age 4/5 before starting school. One dose provides 95 per cent protection against measles, mumps and rubella.
Levels of uptake are now high - 89 per cent in England and 93 per cent in Wales and rising. The World Health Organisation recommends 95 per cent of the population have it for full protection.
By 2004 first dose uptake had fallen to 80 per cent in England and 79 per cent in Wales meaning more than 100,000 children did not have it in that year alone.
Typical symptoms of measles include fever, cough, conjunctivitis and a rash.
Complications are quite common, even in healthy people, and about 20 per cent of reported measles sufferers experience them, including ear infections, vomiting and diarrhoea, pneumonia, meningitis and serious eye disorders.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: 'We currently have enough vaccine to protect everyone who needs it. If your child has not had two doses of MMR, whatever their age, contact your GP surgery and make an appointment.'
Jeremy Hunt also revealed to the committee that all 2,000 civil servants in the Department of Health would be expected to get regular 'frontline' experience in NHS hospitals - and that he had started already.
Mr Hunt is understood to have worked at the A&E department in Watford General Hospital last week, doing cleaning, portering and observing clinical work. He will undertake different roles at other hospital trusts.
He said: 'It's been great fun. I've learned a huge amount.' It was announced all policy staff including ministers would get experience of frontline NHS care following the report into the scandal at Stafford Hospital.