A World Health Organisation document sent to the Maltese government last week shows that measles and German measles have been eradicated from the country, the Department of Information said in a statement.

Last year, 98% of children entitled to be vaccinated for MMR – measles, mumps and rubella (German measles) – took the first dose, while 94.3% took the second dose.

Parliamentary secretary Chris Fearne said that this is great news for Malta and shows that vaccination programmes is leaving the desired result.

Malta eliminated polio and diphtheria decades ago, the DOI said.