[How many - 2, 3, 4, 5.........................if you keep going down a
street and falling in a hole & breaking your ankle, only mental illness
will make you continue down that street with the hole.

"George Kassianos, the RCGP immunisation spokesman, said: "The second dose
of MMR vaccine in our childhood immunisation programme should be
transferred nearer to the second year of life.""

 If the first one doesn't make your child autistic, then next one nearer to
the 2nd year of life should do it.--Sheri]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2174742,00.html#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=B
ritain

The Times  May 11, 2006

Two doses of MMR 'may not protect from mumps'
By Sam Lister, Health Correspondent
CONCERNS that two doses of the MMR vaccine may not be sufficient to protect
children against mumps are being investigated by the public health watchdog.

A new study, published online by the Journal of Epidemiology and Infection,
found that a third of children given one MMR dose, and 15 per cent of those
given two, had low levels of mumps antibodies. Experts from the Health
Protection Agency have described the results as cause for concern.

The findings, which come as mumps rates continue an alarming rise, have
prompted GPs to call for a change in the schedule for MMR, which is given
to protect against measles, mumps and rubella. Children are given one
combined jab at 13 months and a second between the ages of 3½ and 5.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) said that consideration
should be given to bringing the second dose forward to shorten the period
during which children are protected with only one dose. The Government's
Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said that it would also be
considering the implications of the new research for the vaccine programme.
The study analysed serum samples from 3,445 patients aged from 1 to 69. In
children born between 1986 and 1990, who would be expected to have received
one dose of MMR as part of routine vaccination, 34 per cent were found to
have low levels of mumps antibodies - indicating potential lack of
protection. Of those born between 1991 and 1995, who should have had two
doses, 15 per cent were found to have low antibody levels.

Recently suspected cases of mumps have surged to about 2,000 a week. The
rise is believed to be the result of young adults, who were too old to be
routinely offered the MMR vaccine when it was introduced in 1988, mixing in
large numbers at university. Students are particularly at risk because the
infection spreads easily in such environments. It is estimated that about
30 per cent of first-year students have not had two doses of MMR vaccine.
The latest findings will cause more concern to parents averse to giving
children multiple jabs early in life. The issue became prominent after
unfounded claims that the triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was
linked to autism.

Richard Pebody, a researcher on the study and consultant epidemiologist,
told the medical magazine Pulse that the agency was undertaking further
work assessing the effectiveness of two doses, which was a "priority" given
the recent mumps outbreaks.

George Kassianos, the RCGP immunisation spokesman, said: "The second dose
of MMR vaccine in our childhood immunisation programme should be
transferred nearer to the second year of life."