New research casts more doubt on MMR vaccine

Further doubts about the safety of the MMR vaccine have been raised after research said trials of the jab were inadquate.

The study also said the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine did not address fears about its long-term effects.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Medicines Control Agency has rejected suggestions that the vaccines were licensed prematurely.

A spokesman said: "We have carried out a review of the licensing of MMR vaccines and can assure the public that the licensing followed normal procedure and was based on robust studies."

He added that the safety of the combined vaccines had been reviewed repeatedly by the Government's independent expert advisory committees, which had concluded that the evidence did not support any link between the MMR vaccine and inflammation of the bowel or autism.

He said: "The use of the MMR vaccine is also endorsed by the World Health Organisation and professional bodies such as the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing."

But, Dr Andrew Wakefield, consultant gastroenterologist at the Royal Free Hospital in London says there is not "adequate evidence of safety" of the vaccine.

In an article published in the medical journal Adverse Drug Reactions, he says trials of the vaccine were too small and did not follow children up for a long enough period to gauge potential problems.

He added that there was also evidence more than 20 years ago that combining three live viruses in one jab could be potentially dangerous.

Dr Wakefield says concludes that until safety concerns are allayed, parents should be offered the choice of either the combined jab or single vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella.