MMR gag angers health officials: No 10 blocks ministers from saying if their children have been vaccinated

http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011221000203&query=mmr

FRONT PAGE - FIRST SECTION: MMR gag angers health officials: No 10 blocks ministers from saying if their children have been vaccinated
Financial Times; Dec 21, 2001
By ROSEMARY BENNETT

Downing Street has enraged health department officials by forbidding ministers from disclosing if their children have been given the controversial MMR vaccine.

The officials say the gagging order has undermined efforts to restore public confidence in the mumps, measles and rubella triple jab. There have been suggestions that the triple vaccine could be linked to autism and bowel disease.

Downing Street ordered ministers last week not to comment on whether their children had received the vaccine to prevent Tony Blair being forced to reveal if his 18-month-old son Leo had been inoculated.

They were told to say they did not comment on the health of their children in order to protect their privacy.

But a senior health official said Downing Street was guilty of double standards. "Tony Blair often speaks about his children. Clearly it doesn't suit him on this occasion and the public is going to wonder why," he said.

The prime minister has referred to his children in speeches and interviews, and his official spokesman provided a blow-by-blow account of Euan Blair's post-GCSE celebration last summer when he was arrested for being drunk and incapable.

However, Downing Street officials said last night they would not back down; family health matters would remain private.

The gag proved embarrassing for Jacqui Smith, junior health minister, yesterday as she repeatedly ducked questions about her own children during a Radio Four interview, although she hinted she had followed government advice and had them vaccinated.

Yvette Cooper, the public health minister responsible for the jab, confirmed before Downing Street issued the ban that her two-year-old daughter had been vaccinated.

Increasing numbers of parents are refusing to give their children the jab despite repeated assurances from ministers that it is safe.

The latest official figures show only 87 per cent of children were vaccinated against the diseases in the year to March compared with rates of about 94.5 per cent for diphtheria, tetanus and polio. www.ft.com/healthcare

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.