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July 5, 2002

INTERNATIONAL IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Livingstone Speaks Out Against MMR"

Guardian Unlimited  (UK) Online (www.guardian.co.uk) (07/02/02); Tempest, Matthew

During a recent radio interview, the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, called the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine "an administrative convenience" and encouraged parents to give their children separate measles, mumps, and rubella injections. The mayor did not say the MMR vaccine was unsafe, but [unfortunately] he asserted that the combined injection was meant to merely save time and money.  Researchers reported at this week's British Medical Association conference that MMR coverage has declined by about 5 percent in England, while cases of measles in the first three months of 2002 have quadrupled.

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