Measles: Make MMR jab mandatory' call by US expert
As a measles epidemic in south Wales
continues to spread at an "alarming rate" an expert has said mandatory
vaccinations should be considered.
Dr Paul Offit, a US-based measles expert, told the BBC that mandatory vaccinations in America had prevented similar outbreaks.
His comments came as measles cases in the Swansea area rose to 620.
The Welsh government said it believed the "hard won trust" in MMR would be damaged if vaccination was compulsory.
Public Health Wales (PHW) said there were no signs of a slow down in cases.
Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Dr Offit said Britain would benefit from American-style mandatory vaccinations.
'Needlessly suffering'
People in the United States can still claim exemption on philosophical or religious grounds but Dr Paul Offit said it still increased vaccination rates.
"If we didn't mandate vaccines I think we would suffer in many ways what's going on in Europe now," Dr Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said.
"Many children are needlessly suffering this disease and being hospitalised by this disease and occasionally being killed which I think is unconscionable.
"In this country we just don't think its your inalienable right to catch and transmit a potentially fatal infection and so we at least put that one hoop you have to jump through which is mandatory vaccination."
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End Quote Welsh governmentTrust in the MMR has been regained, to the point where almost 95% of pre-school children are vaccinated”
The Welsh government said it was not considering
compulsory vaccination at present and that they were seeing a "much improved
uptake in vaccination rates now".
A spokesman said: "The current epidemic, affecting school age children in particular, is the legacy of a damaging and unfounded health scare in the late 1990s.
"Since then, trust in the MMR has been regained, to the point where almost 95% of pre-school children are vaccinated. We believe that at this point, the hard-won trust in the MMR vaccine and in GPs would be damaged by introducing compulsory vaccination."
Health officials dealing with the outbreak in the Swansea area said despite 1,700 people being vaccinated with the MMR jab at drop-in clinics at the weekend, the spread of the disease was still rising.
Experts said they were not seeing enough children aged 10 to 17 coming forward for the jab.
PHW estimate 6,000 children have still not been vaccinated, with the outbreak still not peaking.
Parents across Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend are being urged to get their children vaccinated with GPs.
Dr Marion Lyons, director of health protection for PHW, warned there was no sign of the outbreak, which began last November, easing.
"We're getting a lot of new cases in this week," Dr Lyons told BBC Radio Wales.
"And because so many are unvaccinated still, you know they will infect so many more that we will see next week and the week after because of the long incubation period.
"It is still rising at an alarming rate."
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