MMR Vaccine

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Informer on Thu 21st Nov 2002

Parents in Richmond and Kingston should be enormously reassured by the recent Danish study into possible links between the MMR vaccine and autistic spectrum disorders.

The study – which looked at over half a million children born in Denmark between 1991 and 1998 – which is almost all the children born in that period – found there was "no increase in the risk of autistic disorder among vaccinated children as compared to unvaccinated children."

There has been tremendous distress caused by reports that MMR causes autism and some parents have been demanding single vaccines for their children.

I think they should realise that there is no source of licensed single vaccines for measles and mumps in this country – so any single vaccines being made available will not have been tested for safety.

My real worry is the number of parents who have been put off having their children vaccinated at all – in South West London as a whole, only about 85% of children in the target age group are being protected – well under the 95% needed for "herd immunity".

People must not forget that measles causes death from encephalitis and pneumonia and rubella causes birth defects if a pregnant woman catches it from a child.

We have forgotten the dangers of these diseases – I do hope the Danish study will persuade parents to get their children protected.