Experts pass buck on single vaccines

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/health.cfm?id=331672002

Experts pass buck on single vaccines

Kate Foster Health Correspondent

 
AN OFFICIAL inquiry into the safety of MMR has failed to conclude whether single measles, mumps and rubella vaccines should be made available on the NHS.

Despite a nine-month investigation, the expert group on immunisation, set up by the Scottish executive last year in response to growing concerns over reports of a link between the triple jab and autism, is to put the decision into the hands of the health minister because its members are split over the issue, The Scotsman has learned.

The lack of a ruling has angered members of the parliament’s health committee who had called for "clear guidance" on whether single vaccines should be introduced as an alternative to the triple jab.

The panel’s report has already been delayed for months because of a row between members, who are split over whether MMR has potentially devastating side-effects on some children.

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

A source said: "Despite many months of discussion and reviewing all the available evidence, the group has not been able to come to a consensus on single jabs. The sticking point has always been single vaccines. That decision has now been handed to Malcolm Chisholm.

"The ball is now in the Scottish executive’s court. The health minister has to take a decision."

Mary Scanlon, the Tory health spokeswoman, recommended the establishment of the expert group almost a year ago in a report to the health committee. The expert group was announced in June and given six months to report back.

Ms Scanlon asked for a clear decision on whether single vaccines should be introduced in Scotland but the executive, in spelling out the panel’s remit, said it was not charged with recommending any changes to current immunisation policy.

However, several autism experts on the panel are understood to have argued that a ruling on single jabs is necessary in the light of fears over MMR safety and falling uptake rates.

Ms Scanlon said: "It has always been my understanding that coming to a strong, unequivocal conclusion on single vaccines was part of the expert group’s remit.

"It would be deeply distressing to me and to many parents if they do not tackle that issue. I will be going through their report to make sure they have answered my full remit.

"Parents need unequivocal guidance on this issue. If not, then we are no further forward. We now have low uptake rates and sporadic outbreaks of measles."

This week The Scotsman revealed that Professor Phil Hanlon, a public health policy adviser to the executive, became the first key health official to suggest single jabs should be offered to parents who refused to have their children inoculated with MMR.

Bill Welsh, chairman of Action Against Autism, said: "The health minister should take his advice from Prof Phil Hanlon, who believes single vaccines should be considered for those families who are refusing MMR."

A spokesman for the executive refused to speculate on the report but said the health minister’s view, based on medical experts’ advice, was that MMR is the safest option available.

The expert group was at the centre of a row last month when it emerged four of its members have financial links to a pharmaceutical firm which makes the vaccine. The news prompted claims from campaigners against the triple jab that the groups’ independence was compromised.


 

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