Campaigners threaten action on MMR vaccine

LYNNE ROBERTSON

CAMPAIGNERS who oppose the MMR vaccine are threatening to report the principal medical officer at the department of health to the General Medical Council.

Jackie Fletcher of the campaign group Jabs said members were considering submitting a complaint against Dr David Salisbury over the department's insistence that the triple vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella is safe and the only option for parents who want to vaccinate their youngsters.

The plan emerged as health officials dismissed research that claimed children may not be fully protected by the MMR vaccine, after pathology tests on children at a private medical clinic revealed half were not immune to measles or mumps despite having the vaccination.

Studies have linked the vaccine to autism and bowel disorders in some children and hundreds of families who believe their youngsters have been damaged by it are involved in legal actions against the department.

The move proposed by Jabs follows a decision to lodge a complaint against Dr Peter Mansfield, 58, a former GP from Louth, Lincolnshire, who offered parents single dose vaccines and has immunised more than 300 children.

He was reported to the GMC by Professor Brian McCloskey, the director of public health at Worcestershire Health Authority.

Last week, Dr Mac Armstrong, the chief medical officer in Scotland, said the triple MMR immunisation rates had fallen 3% between March and June, and warned that 13% of youngsters were unprotected against the three diseases.

- Sept 4th