Parents urged to let children have MMR jab
(Filed: 05/02/2002)

A PUBLIC health chief overseeing the latest outbreak of suspected measles today urged parents to put their faith in the controversial MMR vaccine.

Fears are growing that children could contract the illness because many parents are refusing to let them have the triple jab over concerns that it causes bowel disorders and autism.

Dr Gill Sanders, director of public health for Gateshead and South Tyneside Health Authority where the four suspected cases were discovered, today said that the MMR jab was safe.

Samples from four children have been sent to the Public Health Laboratory, in London, for further tests, and it will be early next week before the results are known. Dr Sanders said: "Measles is still around and it's a very unpleasant illness but it is entirely preventable.

"Parents do not need to worry and should take up the MMR vaccine for their children. If you are looking for the best quality, cost-effective treatment then it is MMR. Anything else is second rate."

The Gateshead and South Tyneside area where the four suspected cases were uncovered has an immunisation rate of 91.6 per cent - the Government target is 95 per cent - and Dr Sanders urged more parents to get their children the triple jab.

She added: "People have been affected by what they have read in the media. The message is that MMR is safe, which is backed by the health practitioners, but not being accepted by some parents."

She refused to give any details of the four cases, other than to confirm they were children, and added: "We will give out a lot more detail if these cases are confirmed but as yet they are not."

Figures from the Northern and Yorkshire Regional Office of the NHS Executive showed that in the whole of 2001 there were 298 suspected cases and of the 213 that were tested only three were confirmed.

Two other cases of suspected measles were reported in the north east of England earlier this year but health chiefs have stressed they were not related to the current four in the Gateshead area. Two cases were reported in the neighbouring North Tyneside area.