Parents in the Westcountry campaigning against the combined Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination last night dismissed a report claiming there is no link between the jab and autism, saying it "still had a big question mark over it".

A team of researchers led by Dr Anna Donald and Dr Vivek Muthu analysed all scientific evidence to date on the triple jab, as well as the single measles jab. Yesterday, in a report published in the journal Clinical Evidence, they announced it had no link to autism or inflammatory bowel disease.

However, some parents in the Westcountry remain unsatisfied and are still prepared to pay to have their children given the three inoculations separately.

Lee Curnow, from Camborne, led a campaign to persuade a private clinic from London to send a team of doctors and nurses to Cornwall to inoculate their children. She said: "I am afraid I don't agree with these findings. I still believe that the MMR jab has a big question mark over it. They might have found it safe for some but not for everybody.

"I am not just an over-anxious mum. I gave my oldest daughter the MMR jab and she changed - her personality changed. She regressed, she couldn't do things she had been doing, there were fundamental changes in her behaviour. She went off her food, she didn't sleep properly - the list goes on.

"Until they can prove that it's 100 per cent safe for 100 per cent of the people I'm not convinced."

Mrs Curnow also described the "phenomenal" response she has had to her campaign by families across the region.

Along with Debbie Reavill from Truro, she invited London-based Direct Health 2000 (DH2) to come and perform single jabs at the cost of £240 per child (£80 per inoculation). More than 100 parents agreed to the scheme at its outset.

Catherine Durnford, of DH2, said she too was unmoved by the research. And instead of having people phoning to cancel their appointments for separate inoculations at the clinic, she said the phones had been "ringing off the hook" with people still demanding the service.

She said: "This is not new research - they're using material we knew about already. If these scientific reports were really trying to make an effort with new material that would be one thing and I think people would listen. Instead, they are digging their heels in and not giving the parents the choice.

"I think, actually, parents' confidence has gone the other way."

However, Tracey Bryan from Saltash decided to go ahead with the MMR jab for her son after exploring the options last April. She said: "I was put off the single inoculations because the programme wasn't done with my local authority.

"But I thought the risk of having the triple jab was better than the risk of not having it done at all.

"Now it's been done and thank God he seems all right. I am so glad I did it. The day that we had it done it was awful, but he is fine. My personal belief is that some children react badly to the jab but they haven't found what makes that happen. That's what they need to research."

Dr Donald told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that parents should definitely be reassured by the study, which was a "green light to the MMR vaccine".

She said her team looked through "every single piece of research" into MMR and autism.

"We are not saying there should not be more research with autism... but we are saying the MMR vaccine itself is a safe vaccine. Really, we want more money spent on autism, not on chasing these shadows."

But Jackie Fletcher, of campaign group Jabs, said: "This is a review of a review of reviews."

There had been a "missed opportunity" to examine fresh evidence of children with MMR, she said, adding that personal testimonies should be taken from parents.

gmolesworth@westcountry publications.co.uk