Sunday, 10 February, 2002, 19:48 GMT

MMR media campaign planned

The MMR vaccine has been linked to autism

A publicity blitz aimed at convincing every parent in Britain of the safety of the MMR vaccine is to be launched by the government.

Ministers are considering radio, TV and press adverts to persuade parents the jab is the best way to protect their children against measles, mumps and rubella.

Action teams will target areas of low uptake and a letter from Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson to hospitals and clinics will aim to refute suggestions of a link between the vaccination and autism.

Sir Liam plans to lead the campaign and will argue a choice of single vaccines needlessly risks children's lives.

There have been several outbreaks of measles in recent weeks, with two new cases suspected in Birmingham on Sunday.

Young parents

Launching the campaign Sir Liam said: "Many young parents have forgotten what it is like to see a child in an intensive care unit with diseases like this."

He added: "If I could sit down individually with every single mother in this country, I know I could allay their fears."

Sir Liam Donaldson said he wanted to share with parents the "overwhelming" evidence in favour of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

He told BBC's Breakfast With Frost that recent arguments in the press, linking the jab with autism and bowel disease, had been very "distorted".

"We want concerned parents to have information, that they can make the best choice for their children, and at the moment we don't feel that message is getting through."

Tony Blair backed the message, but again refused to confirm whether his son Leo had been given the jab.

He told Sky News: "A lot of what appeared in the papers about us not wanting to have this or having three separate vaccinations is complete nonsense."

Separate jabs danger

A poll of about 500 people in Sunday's News of the World newspaper suggested that 40% of parents do not believe government assurances that the inoculation is safe.

Some parents have called for separate jabs for each disease to be made available on the NHS.

But Professor Donaldson said that would mean six separate jabs, leaving some children unprotected and creating conditions for the resurgence of all three highly contagious diseases.

"A single vaccine, if introduced in a mixed programme with MMR... would leave children unprotected from three potentially serious and deadly diseases.

"The first group of children to be attacked would be those who are between their jabs.

"The second group would be the 750,000 babies in this country who are too small to have had their injections."

Epidemic fears

Take-up of MMR last year plunged to a record low of about 84%.

There is growing concern that parents' refusal to give their children the jab is already creating the risk of a measles epidemic.

Recently there have been outbreaks of measles in Barnet, north London; Streatham, south London, and the Gateshead and South Tyneside area.

Sir Liam urged parents not to forget that MMR had protected one billion children around the world, and vastly improved public health in the UK.

"Many young parents have forgotten what it's like to see a child in the intensive care unit with diseases like this," he said.

Could backfire

Roger Hayward, chairman of the Public Relations Standards Council, warned that an advertising campaign on MMR could backfire.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The public are very canny and they know that anyone who is advertising on an issue as significant as this is really admitting I'm sorry, we can't convince the journalists, so we are going over their heads to try to reach you directly.

"That simply won't work. There is a lot of evidence that advertising used in situations like this is actually counter-productive and worsens the situation rather than improving it."

See also:

10 Feb 02 | England
Suspected measles cases in Midlands

Internet links:

Department of Health

National Autistic Society

Immunisation information

British Medical Journal paper

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

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