http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/health/display.var.2512281.0.Parent_body_attacks_MMR_jab_proposals.php
Parent body attacks MMR jab proposals
ALISON CAMPSIE June 04 2009
The leading parents' voice in Scotland yesterday criticised a call to the
British medical establishment to introduce compulsory MMR vaccinations for young
children.
The Scottish Parent Teacher Council said that parents must retain the right to
choose if their child receives the combined measles, mumps and rubella
inoculation. The jab was at the centre of a health scare in the 1990s after a
medical study claimed it could be linked to autism, a theory which has now been
widely discredited.
Eleanor Coner, of the SPTC, said that parents now needed clearer information
about the consequences of taking or disregarding the vaccine, adding that a
compulsory programme would be more fitting in a "dictatorship".
Her comments came as the British Medical Association prepare to debate
compulsory vaccinations for youngsters who are entering the state education
system.
Ms Coner said: "As attractive as it can be to the medical profession, you cannot
impose a compulsory inoculation programme for children.
"Not only are parents confused and concerned about the reports, you have also
got parents with a wide range of religious beliefs. We don't live in a
dictatorship."
The issue has been raised again by Sir Sandy Macara, former chairman of the
British Medical Association. He said that attempts to persuade parents to permit
the jab for their children had "failed".
His comments came in light of a measles outbreak in Wales that has infected more
than 230 children.