|
Tony
Blair will have a lot to answer for if the government loses the battle to
persuade parents that the triple vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella
(MMR) is safe. His assurance that he would never ask parents to do
something for their children which he did not believe to be safe for his
own comes too late to dispel growing doubts about the risks involved.
Official reassurances no longer convince as many families as they once did.
These doubts have been compounded by Dr Andrew Wakefield, who says that the
government’s medical advisers are treating the public like idiots who
cannot decide for themselves. Regrettably for Mr Blair and public health,
this strikes a chord among a growing number of parents.
The doubters are still a minority but, according to an opinion poll
yesterday, the prime minister’s refusal to say categorically that his baby
son Leo has had an MMR jab has made 40% of parents with children under five
less confident about MMR. Dr Wakefield’s hotly contested research into a
possible link between MMR and autism has made Mr Blair’s vacillation more
influential than it would have been. But its effect is now clear. Doubts
are rife, the take-up of MMR has fallen, the demand for single shots has
risen and the number of parents turning their backs on vaccination
completely is growing.
Fifty years ago,
doctors were thought to know best and patients usually did as they were
told. Successive medical disasters from thalidomide onwards have made
people more questioning. Whitehall denied there was any link between CJD
and BSE at first. Such instances of official bluster and downright deceit
have made us wary and suspicious. Mr Blair should have followed Queen Victoria’s
example. She popularised anaesthesia and smallpox vaccination by personal
example. That is leadership.
The government’s best
course now is to follow the American example of insisting that children are
vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella by the time they enter
school. If parents insist on single vaccinations rather than MMR, they
should pay for them. To offer single jabs on the NHS will cause
bureaucratic confusion and lead to more children slipping through the
immunisation net. MMR should remain the sole NHS treatment. Aggressive
vaccination campaigns have almost wiped out measles in the United States,
where Dr Wakefield’s research has been examined and found not proven. The
MMR records of children were examined over 14 years and compared with
autism cases of children of the same age. They found no relation between
the levels of immunisation and autism. British and Swedish studies came to
the same conclusion.
It is time to stop fear
feeding on itself. Measles has already been diagnosed among south London
children who have not had the MMR jab, and the latest MMR coverage rate of
84% is too low for comfort. The fact that measles can lead to pneumonia,
seizures, brain damage and possible death is being overlooked — as is the
high risk to a pregnant women from rubella of miscarriage or having a
disabled baby. The argument about whether MMR is preferable to single
vaccinations has become a dangerous distraction. The question is not only
whether MMR causes autism or bowel disease. It is whether because of this
crisis of confidence we are losing the “herd immunity” we enjoyed without a
single measles death for a decade. Infants most at risk from catching
measles are those aged under
12 months, who are too
young to be vaccinated. Without “herd immunity”, they and pregnant women
would be in constant danger if measles becomes a killer again.
The prime minister
rightly disparages “scare- mongering” but that is not enough. He has helped
foster public suspicion by muddling his children’s right to privacy with an
important issue of public health. He should state categorically that Leo
has had an MMR jab. That may at least help end the current shambles, before
measles takes hold again and he is among those held responsible.
|
