2 babies die after MMR in UK

[Guest guest]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?

in_article_id=391163 & in_page_id=1770

The parents of two healthy toddlers who died ten days after being

given the controversial MMR jabs have warned the Government that they

will not allow the cause of their deaths to be 'covered up'.

Doctors say they cannot explain why Fisher and Duncan,

both aged 17 months, died in their sleep.

But the children's parents believe that the controversial triple jab -

against measles, mumps and rubella - is to blame.

and Fisher, from Cheltenham, and and

Duncan, from Cardrona, Scotland, say that if British health

authorities do not give them answers they will send brain tissue

samples from their children's bodies to a specialist laboratory in

America for analysis to determine whether the live viruses in MMR did

cause the deaths.

and had been healthy toddlers when they died. Cot death

has been ruled out because both children were more than a year old

and blood found on 's lips suggested she had an epileptic-type

seizure just before death which does not occur in sudden infant death

syndrome

The only indications of ill-health before the children died were that

both showed signs of apparently minor reactions to their MMR jabs.

's mother, , said last week that despite repeated

Government assurances the vaccine is safe,she and her husband

were '100 per cent sure was killed by MMR'.

And 's father, , said he and his wife would 'never forgive

themselves' for not paying privately for single jabs and for

believing Government assurances that MMR was safe. They now believe

that the doctors should have spotted and warned of the dangers.

Mr Duncan said that, having conducted extensive research since 's

death, he and his wife, who is a nurse, considered it possible that

their daughter had died 'as a result of a catastrophic reaction to

the vaccine'.

He said: 'Six days after her jab, developed purple spots on her

body and bouts of high temperature.

'We read only later that these were side-effects of MMR to watch out

for.

'If we had been properly warned we would have taken her for medical

help sooner. But the risks of vaccines are just never mentioned.

' had been exposed to an outbreak of chickenpox in our village

just before her jab, which we mentioned, and had a runny nose, which

means she really shouldn't have been injected with MMR at that point.

'Parents should be better informed about the risks and the choice of

single jabs should be available to all parents through the NHS.'

Mrs Fisher also believed her son should not have been given the jab.

was due to have his first MMR jab in September last year but

it was delayed when he developed a high temperature and, when taken

to the doctor, had a convulsion in the surgery.

She said: 'It was extremely frightening, but the doctor assured me it

was not uncommon, nothing to worry about, and gave him antibiotics.

soon got better, and I thought nothing further of it.

'But since his death I have learnt that if a child has any history of

convulsions or fits then doctors are supposed to take that into

account when administering any vaccine and watch the childmore

carefullyfor adverse reactions.

'No one mentioned this to me when I took him along to the same

surgery four months later for his MMR, and I had no idea he was at

any increased risk.

'I feel very let down. I'm not against MMR, even now, but parents

should be made aware of the risk factors.

'I am speaking out to warn other parents to take more care if their

child shows any signs of adverse reactions.'

Since 2002 the Government has spent millions of pounds attempting to

shore up public confidence in the vaccine, first undermined in 1998

when clinical researcher Dr Wakefield suggested it could cause

autism and gut disease.

The failure of the Government's campaign was demonstrated last week

when figures showed that because so many parents are spurning MMR,

Britain is now in the grip of the biggest measles outbreak since the

vaccine's introduction in 1988.

Doctors have reported hundreds of cases of measles since January in

just three areas of the country, including the death of a 13-year-old

boy.

Conservative health spokesman Lansley said: 'The Government's

failure to maintain confidence in the MMR jab has led directly to

these outbreaks.'

Opposition leader Cameron has pledged to restore single jabs on

the NHS.

Add your comment | View all Reader comments (13)

13 people have commented on this story so far. Tell us what you think

below.

Here's a sample of the latest comments published. You can click view

all to read all comments that readers have sent in.

My daughter died at 17 months of age within 24 hours of a DTP and MMR

vaccine. She was taken to the family physician on June 14th 1993 for

an eye infection, she had a febrile seizure in March 1993 and he

still injected my beautiful little girl with the DTP and the MMR

vaccines. That night she became very unconsolable, we were told to

expect that and to give her some Tylenol which we did, she fussed for

hours before bed, when I awoke the next morning, I found my precious

Mae dead in her bed. The government here tries to cover up the

massive amounts of deaths and injuries every year that are caused by

vaccines. In a perfect world our children would be protected and

would not die or be injured by vaccines, however this isn't a perfect

world and we do loose children to this. Now we need to make our

countries accountable for the deaths and injuries and as parents

realize we are the ones who have the right to choose.

- Mulliniks, burg Michigan USA

Every vaccine carries a risk, from subtle through to severe, even

death. No one can forsee what effect a vaccine will have on a baby,

child or adult until it is administered. All of the vaccines should

be thoroughly investigated and also as other people have stated, we

should be thinking more rationally about measles, mumps and rubella.

Now that we have better sanitary conditions, clean water etc. and

history shows that the death rate for these diseases dropped by 95%

before vaccines were introduced. My daughter is totally unvaccinated,

she is 8, my heart goes out to the parents of both and .

- Ruth Acaster, Worthing, Sussex

History shows that the incidence of severe reactions to measles was

dropping significantly before the MMR was mandated. Once hygienic

measures were understood and practiced and after it was learned that

Vitamin A given to children would in the great majority ensure a

light case, the illness ensures a life-long immunity to the measles

virus. Dr. Wakefield has said all along that single vaccines given to

well children spaced properly would most likely prevent the

lymphonodular enterocolitis that we are seeing now in our autistic

children.

- Jaquelyn Mccandless, M.D, Honokaa HI, USA