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Warning over poor take-up of MMR jab
12:37pm Tuesday 12th August 2008
Thousands of children across Sussex have not been vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella.
Latest figures show 22.5% of children in Brighton and Hove have not had the triple MMR vaccination by their second birthday compared with 10% in West Sussex.
About 13% of children in the East Sussex Downs and Weald area have not had the inoculation while the figure for Hastings and Rother was 16.5%.
Experts have warned the risk of measles or mumps breaking out in the county is high as the World Health Organisation recommends at least 95% of a community needs to be vaccinated to prevent an outbreak.
The news comes as the government announced primary care trusts (PCTs) would be getting extra funding to encourage more parents to get their children immunised.
A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City PCT said an expert had already been appointed to work in communities where take-up rates of the vaccination were low but the extra funding would be welcome.
PCTs are working on plans to offer the jabs to all young people up to 18 years old to ensure nobody misses out.
Liz Taylor from West Sussex PCT said: “Measles, mumps and rubella are all serious and potentially fatal diseases.
“Immunisation rates among certain groups dropped in recent years, but the West Sussex uptake has now recovered to 90%.
“However, we are not complacent and want to ensure even higher numbers are vaccinated.”
MMR rates dropped sharply after research published in The Lancet in 1998 suggested a link between MMR and autism, a claim which has since been largely discounted by health experts who insist the vaccine is safe.
Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, said: “Parents who have not had their children vaccinated with the MMR vaccine should do so now.
“The evidence on MMR is absolutely clear – there is no link between the vaccine and autism.
“The MMR vaccine coverage is not high enough to remove the threat of recurrence of measles outbreaks.
Delaying immunisation puts children at risk.”
There were 1,726 confirmed cases of measles, mumps and rubella in England and Wales in 2006 and 2007 – more than in the entire previous decade.
Are you worried about the MMR triple jab? Tell us below.
Your Say YourArgus
Ronald, Hailsham says...
7:09pm Tue 12 Aug 08
rs, says...
7:38pm Tue 12 Aug 08
Ronald wrote:but you've got to remember it's not just the risk to your children it's the risk to pregnant women in the case of rubella.
Even if the chance of autism is one in a million, it's not worth the risk. None of my kids has had the MMR. No child has ever died of measles in the UK (The Times) unless already weak or ill. Far better to have the illness and be naturally immune for life. The cure is for the NHS to come off it's high horse and offer the jabs separately.
but i agree they should offer them seperatly
notasheeple, Chichester says...
7:45pm Tue 12 Aug 08
So you can call me selfish or stupid, but I don't see how injecting a baby with bovine albumin or serum, chick embryo fibroblasts (given my egg allergy that would be stupid), human
serum albumin (that's aborted cells from a human fetus), gelatin, or free glutamate (a highly dangerous excitotoxin) is going to make them healthy, and I don't see how it'll make much difference to any disease whose rates were plummeting prior to the introduction of vaccines anyway!
notasheeple, Chichester says...
7:47pm Tue 12 Aug 08
Ronald wrote:By the way, does anyone have the figures for single vaccine uptake in the UK? You never hear those stats mentioned at all when the NHS are doing their annual MMR-push...
Even if the chance of autism is one in a million, it's not worth the risk. None of my kids has had the MMR. No child has ever died of measles in the UK (The Times) unless already weak or ill. Far better to have the illness and be naturally immune for life. The cure is for the NHS to come off it's high horse and offer the jabs separately.
rs, says...
9:43pm Tue 12 Aug 08
notasheeple wrote:you say it's never killed a healthy child before, but what about the ones born deaf or brain damaged because their mother caught rubella during pregnancy.
I've never had it or any other vaccine, my children won't have it either, and I've not been struck down by any horrific illness. I eat a healthy diet, use homeopathics and natural herbs to boost my immune system, and will do the same with my child. If they get measles or mumps or rubella they'll have natural immunity like so many people before them - as Ronald said, it's never killed a healthy child in the UK before!So you can call me selfish or stupid, but I don't see how injecting a baby with bovine albumin or serum, chick embryo fibroblasts (given my egg allergy that would be stupid), humanserum albumin (that's aborted cells from a human fetus), gelatin, or free glutamate (a highly dangerous excitotoxin) is going to make them healthy, and I don't see how it'll make much difference to any disease whose rates were plummeting prior to the introduction of vaccines anyway!
and the reason you or your kids haven't caught it, is down to most of the population being immunised previously, not your homeopathic and herbal remedies.
notasheeple, Chichester says...
10:09pm Tue 12 Aug 08
You might be interested to know there was a rubella outbreak at my school as a child, and all but five people caught it in the whole school - I was one of those five, and the only unvaccinated person there.
Baaaa.
rs, says...
12:06pm Wed 13 Aug 08
notasheeple wrote:lol, so you were the only unvacinated person at your school, but everyone who was vacinated against rubella caught it? how does that work then. baaaa
Oh yeah? How do you know that? I never stated what it is I take or what I do, nor did I mention my diet or lifestyle in anything but the broadest terms. Being a bit hasty in our judgement, aren't we?You might be interested to know there was a rubella outbreak at my school as a child, and all but five people caught it in the whole school - I was one of those five, and the only unvaccinated person there. Baaaa.
notasheeple, Chichester says...
7:01pm Wed 13 Aug 08
Think I'll stick with my non-toxic versions.
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joanne77, brighton says...
12:53pm Tue 12 Aug 08