Experts to back single vaccines

http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=291102002

The Scotsman
Sat 16 Mar 2002
 
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Experts to back single vaccines

Kate Foster Health Correspondent

 

AUTISM experts on an official group set up to examine the safety of MMR are secretly preparing a report which recommends single vaccines be made available to parents who want them.

Members of the expert group on immunisation, set up by the Scottish executive last year, have failed to reach a consensus on whether the controversial triple jab is safe, despite nine months of reviewing all the available evidence.

Public health officials, who make up the majority of the 19-strong panel, are understood to be adamant there is no link between the triple vaccine and autism, but some medical experts believe there is enough evidence to suggest there is a problem with MMR.

The group was due to meet this week for the final time, but members failed to reach a consensus and have been forced to schedule a further meeting next week.

Now The Scotsman has learned a faction within the panel has become so disillusioned over the row they are considering publishing their own review on the safety of the jabs which recommends parents are offered a choice.

A source said yesterday: "All the members of the group have managed to reach agreement on most of the issues - such as improving services for autistic children, earlier diagnosis of the condition and setting up a register so that cases can be officially monitored.

"But the sticking point is whether MMR is safe. People can’t reach an agreement on single vaccines. The group must come to a position of consensus, but it’s proving incredibly difficult. If the group does not recommend single vaccines as a choice, not all the members will back the final report.

"There are a few who feel that parents should have a choice and it’s possible that an alternative report will be published by this part of the group if a consensus is not reached."

Bill Welsh, chairman of Action Against Autism, said: "I would be most unhappy if the expert group’s final report supported current immunisation policy, but there are doctors on that committee who are experts in autism and I would be most unhappy to see them agreeing to the status quo."

However Mary Scanlon, the Tory health spokeswoman, urged the group to reach a consensus, warning any division over the final report would be "absolutely disastrous".

She said: " If we have two conflicting reports it would be tragic because it would only add to parents’ confusion."

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