http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/letters.cfm?id=128500

Single vaccines

Linda Long, the health development officer for Sense Scotland, makes a valid point when she says that the alarming fall in the uptake of the MMR vaccine may lead to the re-emergence of measles, mumps and rubella (Letters, 7 December). It would be a tragedy if anyone became ill or disabled through the consequences of a large number of children not being vaccinated.

However, how can we justify preventing one serious disability by replacing it with another? If the consequence, for some children, of having this vaccine is autism, then let us take steps to avoid this tragedy, too.

Allowing parents access to single vaccines may not be the long-term solution to this frightening dilemma, but it is what is required now to raise levels of immunisation.

A commitment to real research, which investigates the children diagnosed as having autism and/or the bowel disorder caused by MMR, coupled with a complete review of our whole vaccination policy, may provide a safe and manageable alternative. Until this commitment is made and carried out, allowing parents the choice of single vaccines or MMR is the only way forward.

SHEILA KYLE
Union Road
Inverness