Research showed London has one of the lowest uptakes of MMR

Health officials are writing to most of the primary schools in London to see if they will take part in the programme.

The Health Protection Agency has warned the capital faces a measles outbreak as 90,000 children have not completed the course of MMR jabs.

The figure is well below the 95% needed to protect all children.

We worry that children will be pressurised into having the vaccinations behind the backs of their parents Jackie Fletcher, of Jabs

Some 80% of five-year-old's in the capital have had the first dose of the MMR vaccine but only 58% have had the second dose, which is needed to fully protect children from measles, mumps and rubella.

The low immunisation rate has raised fears of a return to the 1970s and 1980s when measles outbreaks were common.

Since the mid 1990s the disease has been largely controlled by the MMR vaccine.

Primary care trusts have been charged with coordinating the scheme for four to 11-year-olds.

If it proves successful, similar programmes could be rolled out to other areas of the country where immunisation rates are also low.

Professor Sue Atkinson, the NHS regional director for public health for London, said children were at risk from rubella and mumps as well as measles.

"It is vital that we increase the numbers of our children protected against these serious diseases as soon as possible to prevent larger epidemics."

And Dr Graham Fraser, an epidemiologist with the Health Protection Agency, said it was particularly important for primary school children to be fully immunised as they often "pass the infection to younger siblings".

But Jackie Fletcher, of the campaign group Jabs, said she was concerned about the move.