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| | | | | | | | MMR Vaccine - Listeners' Emails
Back in the days before triple vaccine my son was due for his measles jab. I told the nurse that there was a possibility he was carrying the mumps virus as my daughter had mumps at the time.
I thought it best to delay the measles vaccine as I did not like the idea of my son having two things for his body to fight. The medics assured me it was better for my son to be vaccinated against measles than to worry about mumps.
As a consequence of this the two illness reacted with each other and my sons brain swelled up. He was rushed to hospital and fortunately he recovered.
I think this is proof enough that measles and mumps together are very dangerous. Children should not be deliberately infected with multiple vaccines - especially measles and mumps.
Lynne Haywood
Central London
WHY oh WHY oh WHY whenever MMR and autism is discussed will nobody say that autistic spectrum disorders are hereditary?
Research now shows that ASDs are strongly hereditary, most families with a diagnosed child recognise others in the family who show traits. Many Asperger children have mild bowel problems with constipation and diarrhoea.
Families with known autism should be offered single vaccines until more is known, this would reassure families with no autism to have the MMR, and families who are not sure whether they have autism should be offered a test.
Brenda Wall
Asperger Backup Campaign, Bournemouth.
01202 763562
It's sad and disappointing that so much attention is being given at the moment to the MMR when such a small proportion of the population die from these diseases compared to AIDS.
While the Prime Minister is touring Africa, wouldn't it be more important to hear your reporters challenge him about what Britain is doing to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa?
Perhaps when we understand the affect of AIDS on the people of Africa it would put our own issue of MMR into its true proportion.
Simon Dawson
Poole
I am both a GP and the father of an Autistic child and like many parents I know that MMR DID NOT cause my child's problems. Signs were apparent before the vaccination. The present hysteria does nothing to focus any meaningful research on what really is going wrong with our children.
There is much demand for the NHS to provide a choice but the NHS is not responsible for funding all choices. It is responsible for providing cost-effective evidence based medicine. That is what the MMR is. Separate vaccines have no place in NHS treatment other than in a scientific trial to examine efficacy and safety. Freedom of choice comes with a requirement to assume responsibility for that choice. In the case of single vaccines it remains right that those who wish it are responsible for paying for it, and do not drain resources from elsewhere in the NHS. In case anyone was unaware, the Health Service is already struggling to provide a second-rate service and Primary Care cannot stand tripling its workload for this immunisation.
Dr David Gould
Banffshire
Whatever one thinks about the scientific evidence or the public's reaction to it, parents are voting with their feet. This could easily lead to epidemic in one or more of these dangerous diseases.
So it is irrelevant whether the government sees public demand as a reasonable reaction in light of current knowledge, or a kind of mass hysteria. There seems no alternative to giving parents what they manifestly want, three separate vaccinations, as the alternative is disaster.
Haydn Jenkins
Senior Lecturer
School of Computing and Mathematics
University of Northumbria at Newcastle
PS: Before you ask, my children have already received the triple vaccine, and show no ill effects. No axe grinding or hidden agendas here. If only rulers (i.e. politicians and news media) could say the same.
We all assess risk in our own way, and normally can choose an action that matches the level of risk that we consider acceptable. I suggest that we need a similar range of options in the area of measles vaccination.
To me, a single measles vaccination, about which I am not aware of any concerns, is the low risk option between catching measles and suffering autism. Don't ask me to trust a scientist, politician, or policy maker. Let me make my own choice.
Colin Hazlehurst
So many wreckers, it seems... Now it's irresponsible parents refusing to have their children inoculated with MMR causing a resurgence of measles.
No, Mr Blair, it's an irresponsible government that won't recognise parents' justified concern post BSE, when ministers' assurances proved to be politics, not fact. If the government would allow concerned parents and doctors to use the separate inoculations, children would be protected and parents' confidence restored. But doctors who dared to offer this choice have been punished. So much for parental choice.
The government should allow the separate inoculations (better than none) for those parents who are concerned while evidence on MMR is re-appraised.
A culture of blaming those who don't agree with them is a dangerous and divisive government policy, and when it comes to children's health a little more recognition that parents aren't interested in statistical chances, only in their child's safety, might not go amiss.
J Short
The government says it will consider private finance to help run the NHS - allowing the benefits of the market place to flow into our beleaguered public services.
Why can't market forces be allowed to operate in the MMR service now? If there is a large enough group of parents who want separate vaccines and are prepared to pay for the extra work involved, then let them have it - the money can be spent on further research into this interesting question. And the parents who believe the combined vaccine is safe can choose that and know they have done their bit to help stave off these dreadful illnesses. I can re member having measles as a child - not a pleasant memory.
Griselda Mussett
Faversham, Kent
Everyone seems to be choosing their words so very carefully, but I'm getting the impression that children given the three vaccines separately are not as well protected as children who are given the combined MMR.
Is this true? What are the statistics? and (if true) WHY?
Bill Hodgkinson
Hereford
What this Government has failed to grasp through successive crises (BSE, Foot & Mouth and MMR) is that there is no such thing as absolute certainty in science. The Government continues to act as if this were the case, patronising and alienating the public at large who understand that in the real world things are not black and white and that uncertainty is the norm.
The Government's current attitude is arrogant and condescending, showing no regard for parents' concerns nor, ultimately, for the health of their children.
Brian Proctor
Father of a 16 month old boy who has now had separate rubella and measles jabs (mumps still to come).
Once again we have the government telling us that something is safe and that we must believe them despite the fact that several medical experts have their doubts.
I suppose all governments suffer from selective amnesia so that they forget that we were once told to not worry about Thalidomide, DDT, Sheep dip chemicals, Salmonella, GM foods, etc etc and also of course that BSE could not affect humans and there was absolutely no connection with BSE and CJD. Time and time again we hear our government back track on their advice given earlier and usually only after much pressure from the public.
What next I wonder - Bromide in our drinking water?
Paul Gardiner.
Dorset
Over the past few months Today has produced a number of reports on MMR which you can read here:
MMR The Facts
When do children have the vaccine? What does it do? What are the findings of independent reports?
MMR Vaccine Studies
What are the conclusions of research into MMR?
MMR The Choice
How do parents feel about the vaccination?
Chat
Transcript of web chat with Dr David Elliman, NHS immunisation co-ordinator for South London
LINKS
News Online in depth report on MMR
National Autistic Society
The Autism Research Unit
MRC Autism report
Q and A on Autism and MMR
JABS pressure group
Public Health Laboratory Service
Department of Health
Please Note:
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.
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| |  | | | | "I think this is proof enough that measles and mumps together are very dangerous.
Children should not be deliberately infected with multiple vaccines - especially measles and mumps."
"WHY oh WHY oh WHY whenever MMR and autism is discussed will nobody say that autistic spectrum disorders are hereditary?"
"It's sad and disappointing that so much attention is being given at the moment to the MMR when such a small proportion of the population die from these diseases compared to AIDS.
Perhaps when we understand the affect of AIDS on the people of Africa it would put our own issue of MMR into its true proportion."
"I am both a GP and the father of an Autistic child and like many parents I know that MMR DID NOT cause my child's problems. Signs were apparent before the vaccination. The present hysteria does nothing to focus any meaningful research on what really is going wrong with our children."
"It is irrelevant whether the government sees public demand as a reasonable reaction in light of current knowledge, or a kind of mass hysteria. There seems no alternative to giving parents what they manifestly want, three separate vaccinations, as the alternative is disaster."
"To me, a single measles vaccination, about which I am not aware of any concerns, is the low risk option between catching measles and suffering autism. Don't ask me to trust a scientist, politician, or policy maker. Let me make my own choice." | | |  | |
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