Medical chief says MMR jabs 'too low'
By Tom Peterkin, Scottish Political Correspondent
(Filed: 01/12/2001)

HEALTH chiefs yesterday urged parents to inoculate their children with the controversial MMR triple vaccine after it emerged that 13 per cent of Scottish two-year-olds have not had the injection.

Statistics released by NHS Scotland revealed that one in eight toddlers have not been immunised with the controversial triple vaccine, which has been linked with autism.

Mac Armstrong, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer, warned children could die unless take-up rates of the vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, improve dramatically.

Studies suggesting there is a relationship between MMR and autism and bowel disease have led to many parents preferring to use single vaccines. But Dr Armstrong insisted that MMR was safe.

He said: "We want to reassure parents about the safety of the MMR vaccine and continue to recommend it as the most effective way of protecting children from these three potentially serious diseases.

"Offering single vaccines, with the suggested time lags between the three, would leave a child at risk from mumps, measles or rubella, which could result in death or serious illness. This would also have potential consequences for any other unprotected child or adult with whom they were in contact."

The figures revealed that MMR uptake across Scotland was just 86.9 per cent at the end of September this year. For "herd" immunity to be achieved more than 95 per cent of two-year-olds must be vaccinated.

But Mary Scanlon, Tory health spokesman, said parents should be given a choice between MMR and single vaccines. She said: "The Chief Medical Officer should respect the genuine concerns of many parents and instead of bullying them, he should respect their view that they want a single vaccine."