news analysis - the dangers of not vaccinating
WORKERS, JUNE 2003 ISSUE
The introduction of combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into Britain's childhood immunisation schedules from 1988 markedly reduced, initially, the incidence of all three diseases. In between 88% and 100% of cases, the protective antibodies are established after the first dose, and all recipients have protective levels following the second.
The incidence of all three diseases decreased markedly within four years, and there have been no recorded deaths from measles since 1992, when uptake rates reached 92%, only three percentage points short of a target uptake that would have virtually assured the immunity of the whole population.
But in the mid-1990s a series of studies claimed a link between MMR vaccine and the steady rise in the reported incidence of autism, along with intestinal symptoms similar to serious colitis and associated developmental regression. Parents responded by shunning MMR vaccination or opting for three separate injections, of unlicensed vaccines, procured through importation, often at their own expense.
Ill informed
These reactions were ill informed, and they are beginning to have alarming consequences. Immunisation rates in England and Wales have fallen to 80% on average, with only about 73% of two-year olds actually protected in London, our capital city. Scotland is on the verge of a measles epidemic with cases up 60% so far in 2003. There were 256 reports in 2001, and 405 last year of a potentially fatal disease that can cause blindness and brain damage.
Notifications of rubella jumped 50% from 234 to 371 last year and again deafness, brain damage, blindness and foetal abnormalities can develop in severe cases.
The Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health has just released figures showing that cases of mumps now stand at 250, up from 155 last year. Mumps can lead to meningitis and sterility.
The scientific evidence is unequivocal and clear. Combined measles, mumps and rubella MMR vaccine provides protection so unique that it has the potential to eliminate these infections, preventing serious illness in our children and saving many lives in danger of being lost unnecessarily.
There is no convincing evidence whatever that MMR either causes, or facilitates inflammatory bowel disease or autism. Under such circumstances it would be completely unjustified to increase use of unlicensed, single antigen vaccines, with all the associated compliance and usage risks, creating more illness and potentially death for our children, and others that they might infect.
The weight of evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of MMR. Bring back society. Get your kids protected now.