MMR: Weighing up the facts
All the evidence points to the tiny risk of side effects from MMR being
far outweighed by the benefits, and that single jabs are even less safe
or effective. But we're all more cynical since the Department of Health
insisted that beef was safe. Confidence in government experts was badly
dented, and the sometimes arrogant dismissal of parents' concerns did
not help win it back.
"If your child is diagnosed as autistic it's a terrible shock, particularly
if you didn't suspect any problems in babyhood," says pro-vaccination
doctor Claire Girada. "The MMR vaccine is given at around the same
time as autistic symptoms begin to show. Distraught parents will cast
around for something - anything - to blame for the problem, and the MMR
vaccine seems an obvious candidate. But by the same token, it used to
be thought that Down's syndrome was caused by the mother falling in pregnancy."
Undoubtedly, there are more questions that need to be asked, particularly
about the rise in cases of autism, and also whether vaccination affects
the immune systems of very susceptible children. But all the research
in the world will not change a tragic fact that thousands of parents without
access to effective vaccination programmes have learnt that measles kills.
More on MMR
Where to next?
|
