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A Birmingham woman with two autistic
children is joining more than 1,000 people in a UK-wide legal claim
against the makers of the MMR jab.
Charlene Ward, of Bartley Green, says
she is delighted that Alexander Harris solicitors has agreed to fund her
claim against Aventis Pasteur, SmithKline Beecham and Merck & Co.
The move follows a blunder at Bellevue
Medical Centre, in Ladywood, in which eight-week-old Shannon Whitter was
accidentally given the MMR vaccine.
Mrs Ward, whose sons Shane, aged
eight, and Adam, 14, have autism, said: "I'm so relieved that we are
going to be able to join this group action.
"We want to drag the manufacturers of
this vaccine through the courts.
"They are experimenting with their
precious MMR vaccine and it is our children who are the victims.
"Shane is going to need care long
after my husband and I die, so he will need as much compensation as he
can get."
A spokesman for Alexander Harris said:
"More than 3,000 people have contacted us with complaints about MMR and
Mrs Ward is one of 1,000 that we have agreed to take on.
"In the first instance, we have to
prove that the MMR vaccine has caused damage to a range of children and
then we will be able to assess every individual case."
In 1992 Alexander Harris solicitor
Richard Barr was contacted by a concerned mother whose son had developed
autism after receiving the vaccine.
Since then, the law firm has
beenfloodedwithcalls from parents complaining of bowel problems, autism,
epilepsy and brain damage in their children following the jab.
The Department of Health continues to
point to conflicting evidence which rules out a connection between
autism and MMR.
The case will be heard at the High
Court in October 2003.
After the Bellevue blunder Shannon's
parents, George Whitter and Christine Fullen, took her to hospital where
she was given the all-clear, but doctors said she might suffer mild side
effects. |