By: David Derbyshire
22 November 2010
Toddlers are to be inoculated against six diseases at once in a bid to boost vaccination rates, the Government revealed yesterday.The chief medical officer has told GPs to give the vaccines – including the MMR jab – during a single surgery visit once a baby has passed his or her first birthday.
The ‘super-vaccination’ day will involve three injections to protect against measles, mumps, rubella, two forms of meningitis and bacteria that can cause pneumonia.
Under the existing NHS timetable, a month normally separates the two meningitis jabs from the other vaccinations. The official advice was sent out to GPs in England and Wales last week.
The Government believes the change will simplify the complicated immunisation schedule and boost the uptake of vaccines after the MMR scare.
(Note from SaneVax: This newspaper article elicited the following response from Grace Filby, political activist from the United Kingdom, addressing the Department of Health:
Dear DH,
With reference to your letter of 17 November 2010 from Professor Dame Sally Davies and colleagues –
about administering 3 jabs in one day (against 6 diseases) to year-old babies, please send me further information.
I would like to read the two documents identified:
(1) a research project investigating the attitudes of parents to the childhood vaccinations at 12 and 13 months of age and
(2) the recent findings from Miller et al.
I notice from the Annex that the attitudinal project only sampled mothers and fathers of babies up to 11 months, (apart from health professionals), so I would like to know the sample size, whether subjects are experienced parents with older children and whether any of their older children have suffered side effects after a vaccination, have a pre-existing medical condition, are premature, disabled or are deceased. These sorts of parents might be strongly against combining vaccines. Also the age and education of the parents would affect their life experience and therefore attitudes. I would then like to know the proportion of parents in employment because this would sway their attitudes to the number of visits to the GP for future vaccinations, out of just convenience and financial considerations. Without these reassurances for parents with concerns about safety, then I would guess that the research project is not reliable in this context of a complete change of national policy, and I think the public have a right to know in advance. Otherwise it could be a national disaster waiting to happen.
Looking forward to receiving the 2 documents and your reply.
Grace Filby (Ms)
Grace Filby BA(Hons) CertEd FRSA and associates
1 Howard Road Reigate Surrey RH2 7JE 01737 217013 www.relax-well.co.uk
(Should anyone wish to address further questions to the Department of Health, they can be reached via email at: DHMail@dh.gsi.gov.uk)
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