Evening Standard (London): Doctor blames ministers for loss of faith in MMR

A LEADING paediatrician has accused the Government of losing the trust of parents over the MMR vaccine.

Dr David Elliman said ministers had "gone over the top" in using heavyhanded tactics to persuade people to accept the controversial three-in-one jab.

He said parents had so little faith in the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine that it would now be "very difficult" to regain public trust in it.

Dr Elliman is the local immunisation co-ordinator for south London and in the past has regularly been wheeled out by the Government to defend MMR.

While he supports the vaccine and says the alternative of single jabs should not be offered on the NHS, Dr Elliman criticised the way the Government has promoted its use.

Speaking at a Science Museum debate on MMR, he said: "People have lost trust in the Government over MMR.

"The Government has gone over the top in the way it has gone about persuading people of its safety. Its tactics have been heavy-handed and people have been put off. The other problem is that scandals such as BSE mean that when the Government says something is safe, people simply do not believe them."

He added: "It is now very difficult to see how you can persuade parents that MMR is safe. It has got to be down to doctors, rather than the glossy pamphlets."

Concerns that MMR could be linked to autism and bowel disease in children has sent immunisation levels plummeting, particularly in London.

In some areas of the capital more than a third of parents are now refusing to have their children vaccinated for MMR. The World Health Organisation recommends that at least 95 per cent need to be immunised in order to protect the whole population. As concern has grown, the Government has consistently refused pleas from parents for single jabs to be made available on the NHS.

The Chief Medical Officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, has accused parents of playing "Russian roulette" with their children's lives by refusing MMR, and doctors have threatened to strike youngsters off their lists if they are not vaccinated.

The Science Museum last night held a public debate to discuss the continuing controversy over the issue, attended by parents, experts and anti-MMR campaigners. While Dr Elliman spoke in favour of the jab, he said more needed to be done to convince people of its safety.

Sarah Dean, who runs the Direct Health 2000 company which offers single vaccines, called on the Government to lift restrictions on the import of mumps and rubella jabs in order to ensure parents are given a choice.

"At the moment, we can only import 25 of these vaccines each day, and we have 10,000 children waiting to complete their vaccination courses," she said. London GP Dr Richard Halvorsen, who offers single jabs to private patients, raised concerns that babies were already being over-vaccinated against harmless childhood diseases, "I am worried that we are giving our children far too many vaccines," he told the debate. "Mumps is a mild illness. It does not cause death, we do not need to be vaccinating against it.

"There are now plans to bring in an MMR plus chicken pox jab. It is pointless. The risks of vaccination for these diseases are probably greater than the risks of the diseases themselves."