12:37pm Tuesday 12th August 2008
By Siobhan Ryan
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.
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