MMR:The facts, the fears, the lies, the studies, the doctors' views... THE MASS CONFUSION

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MMR:The facts, the fears, the lies, the studies, the doctors' views... THE

MASS CONFUSION

The confusion over the MMR vaccine refuses to subside. Vicki Shaw looks at

claims the jab is safe...and why parents are still shunning it.

The vaccination expert....................

CLINICS should be banned from providing single injections for parents

concerned about the MMR jab, according to vaccinations expert Dr

Schweiger.

Dr Schweiger, who is responsible for co-ordinating vaccination programmes in

Leeds, believes single jabs could do more harm than good. And he said

parents had a duty not just to their own children but others to have the MMR

jab.

He said he believed in freedom of choice, but sometimes people needed to

follow rules for the good of communities as a whole.

He said: " Some regulations are there to protect us. We all like the right to

chose but on certain issues we have to agree to go down the same route.

" I might like to drive on the right hand side of the road, but I don't

because everyone else drives on the left. If I were to ignore the rules it

would put me and other people in danger. There are, I'm afraid, occasions

when it is right to remove people's choices and I firmly believe the MMR

vaccine is one of those instances. "

By having single injections parents left their children at risk for longer

of contracting measles, mumps or rubella.

He said: " The gaps between giving each of the vaccines means the children

are not fully immunised for a considerable amount of time.

The parents........

• Bramham will never allow her daughter to have another

injection.

suffered a severe reaction to the first dose of the MMR jab and was

left in intensive care for two weeks.

Now fears her immune system may have been irreparably damaged – even

common colds can see the eight-year-old hospitalised.

, 36, from Pontefract, said: " You follow all the advice and then your

child ends up critical in hospital.

" I cannot say how guilty I felt seeing her lying there and thinking it was

all my fault. "

had the first dose of the MMR jab at 18 months old. Exactly nine days

later she collapsed and fell into an epileptic shock.

She spent four weeks in Leeds General Infirmary.

Sweet maker added: " We did not let her have the MMR booster and I

would never let her have another injection, ever. I'd rather take my chances

against the illness. "

• Diane and Geoffrey Forth would have more reason than most to fear the MMR

jab – but they are convinced it is safe.

Their son , now 18, is autistic but they are adamant his symptoms

were present before he had the injection.

And they have so little doubts that even after was diagnosed they

still chose the MMR jab for younger child .

Geoffrey, 53, of Pateley Bridge, said: " We feel very strongly that people

are just latching on to the MMR vaccine as something to blame.

" The fact is autism develops around the same time as children have the jab,

so I suppose it could be a natural assumption.

" But we know that was developing the signs of autism well before the

injection and I suspect many of the children, whose parents claim have been

damaged, probably were, too.

Diane added: " Autism is caused by a faulty gene and the fault has to be

there in the first place for it to develop. Having a vaccination isn't

suddenly going to implant this gene in the body. "

• Bullman claims giving his son Dominic the MMR jab was the " biggest

regret " of his life.

Dominic, now 15, developed symptoms of autism just weeks after having the

injection at 14 months.

Six weeks after the jab a health visitor expressed concern about weakness in

Dominic's legs. By the time he was three he had been diagnosed as autistic.

firmly believes the vaccine has destroyed his son's hopes of a normal

life.

The family is one of around 2,000 mounting a court case against vaccine's

manufacturers Kline Beecham and Kline and French. said: " I

don't think anything will ever persuade me MMR was not responsible. Dominic

was a happy, healthy baby before he had the jab. Now he is severely

affected. "

The scientists.........

MORE research has been carried out into the MMR jab than any other vaccine –

and the majority of research claims it is safe.

But with studies being paid for by the Department of Health or

pharmaceutical companies, parents remain sceptical.

Scientists though say they are in a no-win situation – they have to get

their funding from somewhere and say professional ethics would rule out any

bias.

The suggested link between MMR and autism was first reported by Dr

Wakefield of the Royal Free Hospital in London in 1998. But since then

several studies, including some by his own colleagues, have discredited his

research, which also claimed a connection with Crohn's disease.

With a study seemingly being published every few weeks, parents are

understandably confused.

These are just some of the reports in the past 12 months:

l The latest study was published last week by Dr Wakefield's former

colleagues at the Royal Free and University College Medical School. Funded

by the Department of Health and published in the Archive of Diseases in

Childhood, it found no " credible evidence " to link the triple jab with the

psychiatric condition. And it said a rise in the number of autism cases was

most probably due to better diagnosis and reporting.

• In May, a US study, reported in the International Paediatrics journal,

claimed a significantly higher link between autism and MMR than other triple

vaccines. The relative risk with MMR was said to be five times higher than

the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) jab which is given at three or

four months old.

• In April, the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin said there was no " convincing

evidence " of a link.

• In February, the Public Health Laboratory Service found no evidence of

immune system damage caused by the MMR vaccine.

• In November, a Danish study looked at more than half-a-million children

given the jab and could find no link between MMR and cases of autism.

The GPs............................

SINGLE vaccines should not be provided by the NHS – but nor should there be

a Big Brother-style outlaw of private injections, Leeds GP Vautrey

believes.

Although he firmly agrees that MMR is the safest possible way of immunising

children, he insists parents who want to pay for single jabs should be able

to.

" I don't think it would be right for us to tell parents they cannot chose

what treatments their children have, " he said. " Personally though I could

not stress enough how valuable an injection MMR is. "

Dr Vautrey, pictured, has two young sons, both of whom have received the

jab. " I was the first in the queue because I remember exactly what sort of

problems measles, mumps and rubella can cause. Sadly, I think people have

forgotten the damage these can do. "

He said there were good reasons not to choose the single vaccines over MMR.

Firstly children must have six injections instead of two, and remain

unprotected between the different jabs. Research also showed that while

parents are prepared to attend for the occasional injection, many forgot to

return for follow-up jabs.

The High Court judge...............

Even the High Court has an opinion on the MMR vaccine, it seems.

In June, judge Mr Justice Sumner ordered two mothers to have their children

vaccinated with the controversial jab – although they are now appealing

against the ruling.

The women had refused to give their daughters, aged five and 10, the

combined injection over fears of a link to autism.

But both fathers – who are no longer with the mothers – wanted their

children to receive the vaccination.

Mr Justice Sumner decided both children should receive the jab because the

benefits outweighed the risks.

Risk

He also ruled that the girls should be immunised against other diseases,

including diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, and meningitis.

He rejected the idea of giving the girls separate vaccinations against

mumps, measles or rubella, saying the gap between jabs could put them at

risk of getting these diseases.

And he said his decision was influenced by evidence given by medical

experts.

One of the mothers issued a statement after last month's High Court ruling

criticising the decision. She said: " It's outrageous that, in a free

society, a judge could make such a decision. "

28 July 2003