A DESPERATE mum is making three 300-mile journeys so her girl can avoid the controversial MMR jab.

Julie Kirkwood does not want little Alannah to have the triple injection - which some campaigners believe is linked to autism and bowel cancer.

But the only clinic in Scotland which offers separate vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella has a waiting list of three months.

So she has made the first of three long journeys from her home in Paisley to Newcastle to a mobile clinic that offers single jabs.

It has prompted the organiser to consider bringing the clinic to Scotland.

Julie explained that - despite advice from the Government and chief medical officers that the MMR jab was safe - she researched data on the jab and decided on single vaccines for Alannah, 17 months.

But the Edinburgh clinic had a waiting list of up to 12 weeks. She said: "In that time Alannah could have risked catching something."

She was on the internet last week, when she found details of the mobile clinic being held in a Newcastle hotel.

Two days later, she and husband Alan made the first trip with Alannah. By the final jab, they'll have covered 900 miles in all. Julie, 34, said: "We stayed the night in Newcastle so it wasn't too bad a journey for Alannah.

"If the single jabs had not been available I don't know whether we would have left her without any vaccinations.

"The problem is parents are not being offered a choice."

Alan, 39, added: "I wrote to the Scottish Executive expert group on MMR expressing my concerns over three months ago but have not yet received a reply.

"However, I do not believe that the concurrent administration of three live vaccines replicates the natural risk at all - in that children don't receive the three diseases simultaneously in nature.

"While on the internet I came across many stories of children who have had an adverse reaction to a vaccine. That is pretty scary and difficult for a parent to read."

The mobile clinic was set up by Newcastle mum Leigh Scully, who had difficulty in finding a place to get single jabs for her own child.

She tracked down London-based Dr Damitha Ratnasinghe, of Direct Remedies, who carries single jabs in a fridge in his car .

Leigh now organises clinics in hotel rooms in different towns and plans to bring it to Glasgow if there is demand.

Her clinic charges £70 each for measles and rubella and £90 for mumps. Direct Remedies may be contacted on 0845 1304595.

DEBATE ON DISEASE

LINKS between the triple jag and conditions such as autism and bowel disease were first suggested four years ago.

Since then, the debate over MMR has raged.

Health chiefs insist there is no danger and that allowing children to have single jags could put them at risk of disease.

An expert group set up by the Scottish Executive recently concluded there is no current scientific evidence that MMR can be linked to the conditions.