Well-educated parents fear vaccinations

THE majority of parents who are reluctant to have their children immunised are well-educated, high-income parents who are influenced by the media and internet, according to a study.

Before the study results emerged, it was generally believed that poor vaccination rates were largely influenced by lower education and low income, bad access to transport links and lack of knowledge of vaccines.

However, the North West’s childhood immunisation research study revealed knowledge of immunisation was equal between those who completed vaccinations and those who only partly completed or didn’t even begin vaccinations. The report also showed that four-fifths of both groups got advice on immunisation from health professionals and so could not be described as ill-informed.

Up to 1,244 questionnaires were sent to parents in Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and West Cavan as part of the research completed last year. It examined immunisation rates for babies born between June 2002 and August 31, 2003. Up to 621 questionnaires were sent to the target group, those who hadn’t started or completed vaccination, while 623 questionnaires were sent to those who had fully done the required immunisation.

“Nearly four-fifths of those who didn’t complete or start immunisation programme had fears around side effects, we discovered and large numbers of this group were also heavily influenced by what we could describe as questionable media stories,” said surveillance scientist with the Department of Public Health Medicine, Louise Cullen.

The study, which Ms Cullen completed withassistant director of Public Health Nursing, Bernie Mc Nulty, also showed that 60% of the target group believed they had given the controversial MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) jab to their children but the HSE database showed they hadn’t. According to Ms Cullen, this highlighted parental confusion about the immunisation programme and highlighted the need for reminder letters.

East London GP, Dr Michael Fitzgerald, who has a practice in Hackney also spoke at the National Immunisation Conference in Cork about how British, and particularly London, immunisation rates had been dealt a blow by controversial research by Dr Andrew Wakefield on the links between MMR and autism. He also described the revelation that Tony Blair’s son may not have received the triple jab as one of the “greatest failures” in the MMR crisis. Dr Fitzgerald’s 14-year-old son has autism and he has discounted all links between the two saying that it is co-incidental that autism tends to emerge at around 18 months while the jab is generally given around 15 months.

“Scientists need to come out fighting to challenge these conspiracies theories that are putting child health at huge risk.”