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http://society.guardian.co.uk/publichealth/story/0,11098,748683,00.html
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Public health
Doctors hit out at
Livingstone over MMR comments BMA chairman Dr Ian Bogle accused the mayor of making an "outrageous statement for somebody in his position". He told the association's annual conference: " He will have done irreparable damage, damage that takes a long time to put right. It beggars belief that somebody would do this. "I don't tell him how to run London and he should certainly not advise and confuse parents in this way." Doctors at the conference in Harrogate joined Dr Bogle's scathing attack on the mayor. West London GP Dr Anthony Grewal said the uptake of MMR was already dangerously low in the capital. He said: " When London children are disabled or die, Mr Livingstone, as they surely will unless we change current trends, then you will share the blame. You stick to newts and the tube and leave our childrens' health to us." GP Dr Stewart Drage said the mayor had undermined the efforts of London GPs to encourage parents to give their children the triple vaccine. Mr Livingstone's comments about vaccine were made during a Radio 5 Live phone-in. The mayor - whose partner Emma Beal is expecting their first child later this year - revealed that their child would receive single jabs, rather than the triple vaccine. Commenting on the alleged risks associated with MMR he told radio listeners: "There is no way I would inflict that risk on a child." Today Mr Livingstone's spokeswoman said he did not want to comment further. She said: "The mayor would encourage parents to vaccinate their children against measles using one of the options available. He feels that parents ought be able to make a choice." Asked whether the mayor intended to apologise to the BMA she added: "He doesn't want to comment on the matter." The doctors' attack against Mr Livingstone came ahead of a vote by BMA
conference delegates to reject a recommendation for compulsory childhood
immunisation. The doctors decided instead to launch a review into the pros
and cons of mandatory vaccination.
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SocietyGuardian.co.uk ©
Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND
MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
