UK: TV drama sparks MMR fear

December 16, 2003

TV drama sparks MMR fear

By Isabel Oakeshott, Evening Standard

16 December 2003

e=Evening%20Standard

Health chiefs today feared a huge slump in MMR uptake after a television

drama portrayed the triple vaccine as unsafe.

Thousands of parents are expected to reject the controversial jab after the

screening of Hear The Silence by Channel Five last night.

The drama, seen by up to two million viewers, suggested a strong link

between MMR and autism and bowel disease.

t son plays a mum convinced MMR is responsible for her

son's autism

Medical experts taking part in a televised debate after the programme

insisted the drama was misleading. They defended the jab warning that

measles, mumps and rubella will claim lives if youngsters are not vaccinated.

The drama, starring t son and Hugh Bonneville, told the story of

a mother who becomes convinced the MMR jab is responsible for her son's

autism.

Opening scenes showed the mother desperately chasing the boy as he runs off

during a shopping trip and into oncoming traffic.

The drama was set against the backdrop of research by Dr Wakefield,

the gastroenterologist who first raised the question of a link between the

jab and autism and bowel disease in 1997. It began with a claim that cases

of autism among children have risen from one in 2,200 in 1988 to one in 80

today.

Anti-MMR campaigners reacted with delight following the screening. Bill

Welsh, of the pressure group Action Against Autism, said: " This drama was

hugely powerful. Thousands of parents will now think twice about allowing

their children to have this injection. "

During the highly-charged debate, hosted by news presenter Kirsty Young, Dr

Wakefield, of London's Royal Free Hospital, backed the programme. He

insisted: " There is a question over the safety of MMR. "

But a string of child health experts, including the President of the Royal

College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the President of the Royal

College of GPs, condemned the show before its screening, claiming it

" distorts the truth " .

The Department of Health claimed there was " no credible evidence " to prove

a link between MMR, autism and bowel disease.

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