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http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,994599,00.html

Repeat MMR jab for 40,000

Wednesday July 9, 2003
The Guardian


Up to 40,000 children may have to be revaccinated with the combined MMR jab after it emerged yesterday that two clinics giving separate measles, mumps and rubella immunisations did not follow correct procedures.

The Department of Health has sent an urgent message to all family doctors in Britain saying all children given separate jabs at the clinics over a 10-year period were at risk of the diseases and should be reimmunised with the MMR jab.

Dr David Salisbury, head of the department's immunisation and communicable disease team, said the clinics involved were Elstree Aerodrome in Hertfordshire and Hillsborough Arena in Sheffield. Both are now closed.

He said the clinics had not followed the correct procedures recommended by the manufacturer for "making up and administering the vaccines". Vaccines were made up in advance which was "not normal practice and might have led to the vaccines being less effective than normal".

Another concern was that the vaccines could have been contaminated because of the way they were prepared. "This could have increased the risk of children suffering bacterial infections from the immunisation or greater side-effects to the vaccines," Dr Salisbury said.

 

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Should parents be allowed access to single vaccinations? Would you allow your child to have the MMR jab?

 

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07.02.2002: Sarah Boseley: The MMR vaccination and autism
07.02.2002: MMR: the facts
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 Big issue

Public health

 

 Useful sites

Sense: Remember Rubella (pdf)
UK Public Health Association
British Medical Journal
World Health Organisation
British Medical Association
BMJ paper: Mumps, measles, and rubella vaccine and the incidence of autism
General Medical Council

 

SocietyGuardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

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