Some 75% of parents say they now want the government to provide free separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations for their children amid rising concerns about the combined MMR injection, according to the results of the February Guardian/ICM opinion poll.
The poll finding suggests that anxiety over the combined injection has become so deep-seated that there is now an overwhelming demand for free separate jabs on the NHS and many more parents would opt for them if they were easily available through their local doctor.
The results show that ministers are losing the battle to dispel the anxieties of parents over the safety of MMR vaccine.
The findings also suggest that the public has so little trust in what ministers or MPs say on health matters that the Department of Health will have to target doctors - the group the public trusts most - if it is to have any success in its forthcoming national advertising campaign to arrest the decline in public faith in the vaccine.
The ICM poll uncovers the scale of the problem facing ministers. Although 73% of parents with young children say they would choose the MMR jab, a growing minority, some 19% of parents with children under five, are so worried about the combined vaccine's unproven link with autism that they are prepared to pay for separate injections, even if the cost is several hundred pounds.
This finding confirms reports that requests from parents for single measles, mumps and rubella vaccines have risen so sharply since Christmas that they now face waits of up to six months, as private clinics struggle to meet the demand.
What is likely to cause even more concern to health ministers are the 4% of parents with young children who say they will not get their children inoculated against any of the three diseases.
The 73% of parents who told the pollsters that, in the absence of any freely available alternative, they would be willing to allow their children to have the MMR injection falls far short of the 95% target for take-up set by the Department of Health as the minimum needed to guarantee general immunity in the population.
Voters who do not have children say they are more alarmed by the risks posed by the vaccine than those who are parents.
For example while 73% of parents say they would opt for the MMR shot only 56% of voters without children say they would make that decision if they had a small child.
The public also has a very clear view about who it actually listens to when it comes to official advice on the MMR vaccine.
Regardless of the number of times the health secretary, Alan Milburn, or the health minister Yvette Cooper may appear on television to reassure the public, it is clear that advice from the Department of Health, ministers and MPs does not carry that much weight with the public.
Only 20% say they "trust a lot" advice from politicians and officials, 47% say they would trust it "a little" and 30% say they would disregard it altogether.
Scientists fare much better, with 43% of the public saying they trust their advice "a lot" and only 11% saying they would not trust them at all.
It is clear from the poll that the one group with the most public credibility on this issue is doctors, with 63% of the public saying they trust their views on MMR a lot. This would suggest that it is to this group the Department of Health should turn if it is to allay parents' fears. Indeed, the MMR "scare" has only taken off as an issue because of the disagreement among doctors about the risks.
But the ICM survey confirms that there is one group that perhaps should not be blamed for whipping up anxieties about MMR: only 6% say they trust "a lot" what journalists say about the debate.
· ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults over 18 by telephone between February 15 and 17 2002. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults.
