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Fury at MMR jab plan
Oct 4 2003
A Government decree to doctors to give the MMR jab to women planning to start a family when supplies of the single rubella vaccine run out has been condemned by a Midland campaigners against the triple jab.
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Debbie Ryding, who runs a single vaccine clinic in Worcester, along with Bromsgrove MP Julie Kirkbride, accused the Government of depriving people of choice and railroading the public into having the MMR jab.
Mrs Ryding, a mother-of-six from Ledbury, Herefordshire, set up the Desumo Information & Healthcare clinic to raise aware-ness about choices available in vaccination for children.
There is no shortage of single rubella vaccine at all. The Government made a decision to stop manufacturing their supplies so that is why it has run out of its own supplies, she said.
It was a strategic plan to stop manufacturing it so we now have to get our supplies from elsewhere.
Conservative Mrs Kirkbride, who has campaigned for the Government to offer parents choice, accused it of bully tactics.
This is the Governments bullying attempts to deprive the public of choice, she said.
If the single vaccines are not even being made available for adults it wont be available for children - it is a way of stopping this from happening in the long-run.
But Englands Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson has written to GPs, telling them that when their rubella supplies dry up, women of child-bearing age and health care workers should be offered the MMR vaccine instead.
It follows advice given to the Department of Health by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in August which ruled that MMR was a suitable alternative to single rubella vaccine.
The Government claims that demand for the single jab has dropped around the world due to the high uptake of the controversial triple vaccine, prompting leading manufacturers to stop production.
However the move has angered campaigners against the triple vaccine who argue that the jab has caused problems such as autism, brain damage and bowel problems in children.
