Doctors issue plea over MMR jab
Thirty leading paediatricians and childhood vaccination
experts have warned that continued doubts about the safety
of MMR will cost lives.
In an open letter, they plead for the media and health
professionals to stop raising doubts about a vaccine they
say science has shown to be safe.
The measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was linked to autism
in a Lancet paper.
The 1998 paper has since been discredited, but immunisation
rates have dropped in recent years.
This has led to fears that children in the UK are vulnerable
to a mass outbreak of measles.
Cases of the disease, which can be fatal, have increased
sharply.
The lead author of the original paper, Dr Andrew Wakefield,
is the subject of a General Medical Council investigation.
Conflict of interest
And the editor of The Lancet has admitted he would not have
published the paper if he had been aware at the time of what
he called a "fatal conflict of interest".
Dr Wakefield was being paid to see if there was any evidence
to support possible legal action by a group of parents who
claimed their children were damaged by the vaccine. Some
children were involved in both studies.
A
raft of major studies has found no evidence that the triple
vaccine - which protects against rubella and mumps as well
as measles - is unsafe.
However, leading doctors are concerned about the way a
recent US study which found evidence of the measles virus in
the guts of children with autism was reported.
They say the research was small-scale, inconclusive,
preliminary and riddled with supposition - but this was not
reflected in by the media.
And they warn it would be tragic if confidence in MMR, which
had begun to return, was undermined as a result.
Unnecessary deaths
In their letter, they say: "We are now faced with a
potentially serious situation.
"Years of low uptake mean large numbers of unprotected
children are now entering school.
"Unless this is rectified urgently, and children are
immunised, there will be further outbreaks and we will see
more unnecessary deaths.
"It is not too late to avert this predictable tragedy. It is
time that due weight is given to the overwhelming body of
scientific evidence in favour of the vaccine.
"Misguided concepts of 'balance' have confused and
dangerously misled parents. We all, media, politicians and
health professionals, have a responsibility to protect the
health of our children."
A
Department of Health spokesperson welcomed the doctors'
intervention.
"It is extremely important that parents protect their
children from these preventable diseases. MMR is the safest
and most effective vaccine.
"We strongly recommend that any parent who wants to make
sure their child is up to date with their vaccinations
contact their local surgery."
But Jackie Fletcher, of the campaigning group Jabs, said the
fact that measles virus had been found in the intestines of
some children with autism had still not been explained.
She said the doubts over MMR would not "go away at the
stroke of a pen".
