UK doctors say MMR jab fears could cost lives

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) Thirty child health experts today warned that children may unnecessarily become ill and even die because parents have been ''dangerously misled'' over the risks of a triple measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

In an open letter, the doctors called on media, politicians and health professionals to ''draw a line under the question of any association between MMR and autism'' and insisted there is ''overwhelming'' evidence the jab is safe.

''Misguided concepts of balance' have confused and dangerously misled parents,'' the doctors wrote.

Data for last year show the immunisation rate in Britain was around 83 per cent, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) says 95 per cent of a population must be vaccinated to protect the whole community from potential outbreaks and epidemics.

The first fatal case of measles in Britain since 1992 was reported in March.

''We are now faced with a potentially serious situation,'' the letter said. ''Years of low uptake mean large numbers of unprotected children are now entering school. Unless this is rectified urgently, and children are immunised, there will be further outbreaks and more unnecessary deaths.'' In 1998, gastroenterologist Dr Andrew Wakefield published a study linking the MMR vaccination to the occurrence of autism in children, but his study has since been widely discounted.

The doctors said their decision to publish the letter was prompted by another recent spate of media reports reigniting concerns about the safety of MMR.

Dr David Elliman, a consultant in community child health at Great Ormond Street hospital in London and one of the signatories of the letter, described Wakefield's report as a ''scare story'' and said there was no reason for parents to worry about the MMR vaccine.

''There is an enormous body of research around MMR, and it's one of the safest vaccines ... we have,'' he said.

Elliman said in the first five months of this year, there were more cases of measles in England than for the last 12 years. ''It is not too late to avert this predictable tragedy,'' he and his colleagues wrote.

Jackie Fletcher, a spokeswoman for the campaign group JABS which wants single vaccines to be offered to everyone, accused the signatories to the letter and the government of ignoring recent US studies suggesting a link between MMR and autism.

''We have never advocated that children be left un-vaccinated,'' she told Reuters.

''The drug companies that make the MMR also make the single vaccines ... and our department of health, if they are concerned about outbreaks of measles, have a duty of care to order in single vaccines so parents can have a choice.'' REUTERS SHB ND1512