UK doctors say MMR jab fears could cost lives

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) – Thirty child health experts warned on
Tuesday that children may unnecessarily become ill and even die
because parents have been “dangerously misled” over the risks
of a triple measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

In an open letter, the doctors called on media, politicians
and health professionals to “draw a line under the question of
any association between MMR and autism” and insisted there is
“overwhelming” evidence the jab is safe.

“Misguided concepts of balance’ have confused and
dangerously misled parents,” the doctors wrote.

Data for last year show the immunization rate in Britain
was around 83 percent, but the World Health Organization (WHO)
says 95 percent of a population must be vaccinated to protect
the whole community from potential outbreaks and epidemics.

The first fatal case of measles in Britain since 1992 was
reported in March.

“We are now faced with a potentially serious situation,”
the letter said. “Years of low uptake mean large numbers of
unprotected children are now entering school. Unless this is
rectified urgently, and children are immunized, there will be
further outbreaks and more unnecessary deaths.”

In 1998, gastroenterologist Dr Andrew Wakefield published a
study linking the MMR vaccination to the occurrence of autism
in children, but his study has since been widely discounted.

The doctors said their decision to publish the letter was
prompted by another recent spate of media reports reigniting
concerns about the safety of MMR.

Dr David Elliman, a consultant in community child health at
Great Ormond Street hospital in London and one of the
signatories of the letter, described Wakefield’s report as a
“scare story” and said there was no reason for parents to worry
about the MMR vaccine.

“There is an enormous body of research around MMR, and it’s
one of the safest vaccines … we have,” he said.

Elliman said in the first five months of this year, there
were more cases of measles in England than for the last 12
years. “It is not too late to avert this predictable tragedy,”
he and his colleagues wrote.

Jackie Fletcher, a spokeswoman for the campaign group JABS
which wants single vaccines to be offered to everyone, accused
the signatories to the letter and the government of ignoring
recent U.S. studies suggesting a link between MMR and autism.

“We have never advocated that children be left
un-vaccinated,” she told Reuters.

“The drug companies that make the MMR also make the single
vaccines … and our department of health, if they are
concerned about outbreaks of measles, have a duty of care to
order in single vaccines so parents can have a choice.”