Daily Mail - 19.08.2019

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MILITARY GIRL!

Daily Mail, Monday, August 19, 2019
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Singalong: Madonna performing Your Song with son David, 13...

... and with daughter Mercy, 13, who played the piano

Attention!

Madonna

in army

gear for

her 61st

FOR Madonna, turning 61 was

never going to involve a quiet

cuppa and a slice of cake.

The Material Girl singer posed in

a US military jacket and fishnet

tights during three nights of

raucous partying in New York.

Surrounded by young performers

from her Madame X tour, the

mother-of-six was seen dancing

enthusiastically and downing shots.

A video on her Instagram page

also showed her son David, 13,

serenading her with a rendition of

Elton John’s Your Song during

another part of the celebrations.

He was accompanied on the piano

by his sister Mercy James, also 13.

Madonna captioned the video:

‘Best birthday present ever... when

your children sing to you.’ She is

also mother to Lourdes, 22, Rocco,

1, and twins Stella and Estere, six.

By Alisha Rouse

Showbusiness Correspondent

Measles on the march

BrITAIN has had its status

as a measles-free country

revoked by the World health

Organisation amid fears of

falling vaccination rates.

The change of status led Boris

Johnson to last night pledge a

‘decisive’ response, including

tackling the spread of misinfor-

mation by the ‘antivaxx’ move-

ment online.

The number of adults and chil-

dren being vaccinated against the

virus has declined in recent years,

while cases of measles have quad-

rupled in the last 12 months.

In the first quarter of this year,

there were 231 confirmed cases.

Britain was declared ‘measles

free’ by the WhO in 2016 after a

36-month period with no ‘endemic’

transmission – meaning the only

outbreaks in that time had started

abroad and were then passed on.

Since 2016, however, uptake of the

MMr (measles, mumps, and

rubella) jab has fallen each year

and the WhO has revoked the

country’s ‘measles-free’ status.

Politicians are alarmed about

‘creeping cynicism’ surrounding

the safety of vaccinations partly

driven by the antivaxx movement,

which spreads scare stories, con-

spiracy theories and false informa-

tion about the jabs online.

Mr Johnson said last night: ‘After

a period of progress where we

were once able to declare Britain

measles free, we’ve now seen hun-

dreds of cases of measles in the

UK this year. One case of this hor-

rible disease is too many and I am

determined to step up our efforts

to tackle its spread.

‘This is a global challenge and

there’s a number of reasons why

people don’t get themselves or

their children the vaccines they

the measures designed to improve

vaccination rates.

These include taking on the anti-

vaxx movement by creating a new

NhS website setting out evidence

on vaccine safety.

he will also summon social

media companies to a summit to

discuss how they can stop the

spread of misinformation online.

GPs will be ordered to promote

‘catch-up’ vaccination pro-

grammes for under-25s who have

missed one or more MMr jabs.

The WhO says 95 per cent of the

population must have two vacci-

nations – at aged one and aged

three – to adequately protect

against the disease. The UK’s cur-

rent uptake rate for the first vac-

cine is 92 per cent.

But experts are particularly con-

cerned about second vaccination

uptake, for which the UK rate

stands at 87 per cent, down from

89 per cent five years ago.

health Secretary Matt hancock

said: ‘With this strategy, the whole

health system will come together

to renew focus on vaccinations.’

Dr Mary ramsay, head of immu-

nisation at Public health england,

said: ‘Losing our “measles-free”

status is a stark reminder of how

important it is that every eligible

person gets vaccinated. Making it

as easy as possible for parents to

access vaccines so they can offer

their children the best possible

start in life is a priority.’

helen Stokes-Lampard, chair-

man of the royal College of GPs,

said technology firms should take

responsibility to tackle ‘confusion

around vaccination information’.

Britain loses virus-free status, but PM

vows to tackle ‘antivaxx’ scare stories

By Ben Spencer

Medical Correspondent

‘One case is

too many’

Dignified as ever, Madonna flaunts herself

in army gear and fishnets as she turns 61

need, but we need decisive action

across our health service and soci-

ety to make sure communities are

properly immunised.’

The Prime Minister is due to

visit a hospital in south-west eng-

land today where he will outline