Officials urge more to have MMR jabs

10:50am Monday 11th August 2008

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HEALTH officials in Dorset are urging parents to vaccinate their children with the MMR jab to protect them against potentially serious illnesses.

Despite growing confidence in the vaccination still only 87 per cent of children in the area covered by Dorset PCT are being immunised.

Although this is an increase from last year it is still below the advised vaccine rate of 95 per cent needed to be effective in protecting children from measles, mumps and rubella.

This week the Government has launched a national campaign to raise the MMR vaccination rates in England amid growing concerns of a measles epidemic.

Disease prevention manager at Dorset PCT Zoë Bowen said that they are currently considering how to maximise the uptake to protect children in Dorset. She said: "Currently we do have good coverage of MMR which is higher than the national average.

"However, we are not complacent and are aware that there are still some children who have not received their full course of the MMR vaccine.

"We are therefore working closely with primary care to identify and offer catch up doses to protect those children who are currently not fully immunised."

The MMR jab, which is designed to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, has proved controversial.

In 1998, a study published in the respected medical journal The Lancet suggested a link between the jab, autism and bowel disease.

News of the possible link led to coverage rates falling to an all-time low as parents refrained from giving their children the jab.

Experts now say the jab is perfectly safe and that the possibility that MMR was linked to autism has been dismissed by a vast amount of research.

Latest statistics for England show the national average rate is currently 85 per cent.

A Government report states that an epidemic of measles, which can be fatal, could potentially affect up to 100,000 young people in England alone. In 2006 cases of measles were at a 10-year high and the disease's first death in 14 years was recorded in North West England.

Any parents who would like more information about the MMR vaccine should contact their local doctors' surgery.