|
Nearly half of all family doctors have reservations
about giving children their second dose of the controversial MMR
vaccine, according to researchers.
Almost one in five GPs have not read official advice
about the combined measles, mumps and rubella jab and 46 per cent said
they wanted more information and training.
A third of practice nurses said they thought the jab was "very likely
or possibly" associated with Crohn's disease
and 27 per cent thought it was linked to autism.
The study in the British Medical Journal follows
a warning from Government experts that the country is at risk of a potentially
fatal outbreak of measles because immunization
levels have dropped dramatically.
Children are a given a first dose of the MMR jab at 12 to 15 months and
a second, booster dose at between three and five years old.
Researchers questioned 140 health visitors, 204 practice nurses and 165
GPs in North Wales about their attitudes towards the vaccine.
Four out of ten GPs, 49 per cent of health visitors and 54 per cent of
practice nurses (48 per cent overall) had reservations
about the jab.
They found that 17
per cent of GPs said they had not read the information on measles,
mumps and rubella contained in the doctors' bible Immunisation Against
Infectious Diseases.
Nearly half (46 per cent) said they would
have liked more information and training on the MMR vaccine.
And only 46 per cent felt
confident about explaining the need for the second dose to parents.
Adverse Drug Reactions, November 2000;
Volume 19, Issue 4 and The Sunday Herald (London), December 10 and 17,
2000
| 