This week was World Immunization week, and as such, Parliamentary Secretaty for Health Chris Fearne has urged all parents to ensure their children have undertaken all necessary vaccinations.

This year, an emphasis on the measles vaccination has been made internationally, Chris Fearne said, adding that internationally, the number of cases has risen. "In 2013, there were over 145,000 cases of measles in Europe. The evidence clearly shows that the best protection against measles is the vaccination. This vaccination is given in two doses and provided for free by the Health Deprtment," the Parliamentary Secretary said.

"Last year not a single case of measles was reported in Malta," he argued, adding that "this is due to the great vaccination programmes we have in place, where 98% of those entitled to take the vaccine took the first dose and 95% took the second dose MMR vaccination".