PUBLIC health experts fear mass vaccination may become less effective as increasing numbers of parents fail to have their children protected against mumps, measles and rubella (MMR).
The warning to a meeting of Darlington Primary Care Trust's board follows an outbreak of mumps among teenagers in Darlington.
The outbreak of the disease prompted an emergency mass vaccination exercise at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and Carmel RC Technology College, involving more than 800 students.
The take-up of the triple MMR vaccine among children up to two has slumped to less than 86 per cent from a 1998 high of 94 per cent.
The trust agreed to press the message home by asking patients to talk to GPs, midwives and health visitors.
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