Criticism in Ireland of UK judgement

IRELAND: A leading Irish opponent of the MMR vaccine has criticised yesterday's British court ruling and called for more research on the controversial jab. Ms Kathy Sinnott, whose son is autistic, said "the jury was still out" on MMR vaccines.

"For a judge, therefore, to dictate that a child be given this injection against a parent's wishes is both wrong and dangerous," she said.

She also criticised the court's decision to overrule the wishes of the mothers in the case in favour of the fathers, who wanted their daughters immunised. "After all, if they get damaged, who will end up minding them?" she asked.

She called on the Government to give people "real information about this vaccine instead of glossy leaflets telling us there is no danger".

Ms Sinnott, who narrowly failed to get elected to the Dáil in last year's general election, also called for more research into the issue.

No one from the National Disease Surveillance Centre or the health boards was available to comment on the case because of the public health doctors' strike.

The dispute threatens to reverse the steady increase in the number of children given the MMR vaccine in recent years.

The proportion of vaccinated children rose from 70 per cent at the start of 2002 to 73 per cent towards the end of the year. In the Eastern Regional Health Authority area, there was an increase from 59 per cent of children in 2001 to 69 per cent last year.

However, no MMR booster injections have been administered since the start of the doctors' dispute nine weeks ago.

But many children have continued to receive their initial injection as normal from GPs, the Department of Health pointed out.

The strike has also interrupted official monitoring of infectious diseases. However, the Irish Medical Organisation is operating an emergency phone service for health boards in cases of suspected infection.

According to the IMO, this service has received 82 calls in relation to TB, 26 regarding meningitis, 22 for SARS, and 20 for measles.