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July 19, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Blair Insists MMR Jab Should Be Kept"

Press Association (UK) (www.pressassociation.press.net) (07/17/02); Morgan, Vivienne

British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated this week that "there is not a shred of evidence anywhere that the MMR jab is anything but the right course to take."  Blair was invited to address Parliament in an effort to distance his views from that of London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who recently advised parents not to allow their children to get the measles, mumps, and rubella shot because of fears of a link to autism.  Sir Sydney Chapman, former Tory minister, noted that measles cases had quadrupled in the city in the past year and MMR vaccine uptake had reached a record low of just 70 percent.  Blair made it clear that the MMR vaccine in its present form is used in 90 countries worldwide, and he stressed the need to retain the vaccine as it "is the best way to get the coverage necessary to deal with these diseases."

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