Nurses have slammed Health Secretary Matt Hancock for suggesting a school ban on unvaccinated children.

Mr Hancock warned mandatory vaccination could be an option to force parents to get jabs done by the age of five.

It comes after take up for jabs which protect against diseases such as the measles virus has fallen to dangerous levels in the UK.

The Royal College of Nursing annual conference in Liverpool blasted Mr Hancock for “sound bites” – saying medics should win the argument instead.

Its annual conference in Liverpool heard that forcing parents “to put things in to their children’s bodies” would be counter productive.

Donna Kinnair, general secretary of the RCN, said: “In that role you do use inflammatory language to try to make a point but it might not be the best way of educating and bringing families along with you.

“We understand the sentiment, it seems very easy, if they’re not vaccinated let them not have access to education.

“Can you imagine if you haven’t done the groundwork to educate families you would just have lots of children who don’t go to school. How useful is that?”

Nurses called on investment in public health messages to counter unfounded scare stories about vaccines.

Nurse Linda Bailey said: “Mandating vaccine is not the answer. It's just another soundbite for our lightweight Health Secretary.”

Nurse Julie Rimmer-Hunter said: “We should not force people to put things in to their children’s bodies.

The Health Secretary suggested he is considering the school ban after Unicef revealed more than half a million UK children missed the first dose of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab between 2010 and 2017.

Scare stories about vaccinations have become common on the internet, and have been blamed for the lower uptake.

Mr Hancock said: “One of the things I am particularly worried about is the spread of anti-vaccination messages online. Vaccination is safe.

“It’s very, very important for public health – for everybody’s health – and we’re going to tackle it.”

He was asked if children should be banned from school if not vaccinated, and said: “I wouldn’t rule out anything, but I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Nurse Vicky Keir told 3,000 nurses at the RCN conference: “We have to find the way to give support to parents to allow them to make the right choice.

“Don’t force this on parents because they will pull away,” she said.

Disgraced British surgeon Andrew Wakefield first claimed a link between the MMR jab and autism.

His discredited 1998 research was later withdrawn and renounced by its co-authors.

Take-up rates of the vaccine plummeted and Britain suffered spikes in measles and mumps, the first death from measles in 14 years followed.

His licence to practise was revoked and he was erased from the medical register in 2010 before he moved to the US.

Nykoma Hamilton, a nurse from Fife, Scotland, and mother-of-three, said: “I feel that the damage done by Mr Wakefield has caused serious public health carnage among parents worried about their child.

“I have been told on more than one occasion that it’s my fault that my son has a learning disability as that person had read [vaccination] is what caused it.”

Children should have two doses of the MMR jab. The second is to be given when they are aged three to four before starting school.
The World Health Organisation also cites 95% coverage to stop spread.

Measles is highly contagious and can lead to serious complications such as brain and eye infections. Tots with weakened immune systems are most at risk.

Uptake of both MMR jabs by the age of five has fallen in England from 88.6% in 2014-15 to 87.2% in 2017-18.

There were 259 measles cases in England in 2017, rising to 966 in 2018.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: "The UK has a world-leading vaccination programme and uptake remains very high at around 90% for most childhood vaccines, including MMR. 

"We will continue to increase confidence in vaccination by working with social media companies to stop the spread of false information, and are  reviewing how to improve vaccine uptake as part of our Long Term Plan for the NHS.”

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