Leaders of Britain's childhood immunisation programme yesterday urged parents to continue taking their babies for jabs as they announced big changes to the vaccine components.
Polio, previously taken as drops, will now join a combination injection already designed to protect against diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough and Hib, an infection that can cause blood poisoning, pneumonia and meningitis. The mercury-based thiom ersal, a preservative used with the whooping cough vaccine, would also be dropped, but not, officials insisted, on safety grounds.
The new combination of five-in-one vaccines will be introduced in the last two weeks of September which means many children will move from the four plus one combination to the five-in-one during their inoculations which take place at two, three and four months.
Up to 550,000 babies a year in Britain are called in to GP surgeries for these inoculations, and more than 90% have their full complement of injections by the time they are a year old. Even with MMR, taken early in a child's second year, uptake is now over 80%.
David Salisbury, head of immunisations at the Department of Health in England, tried to dispel any suggestion of a link between use of thiomersal and autism, made by one recent US study but discounted by several others.
And he attacked concerns that babies' immune systems would be overloaded by the change. "Children already have five vaccines at the same time - the four-in-one jab and then the oral polio vaccine . This will just mean they will have them in one jab that will actually have fewer active ingredients."
Dr Salisbury exhorted parents to take babies for immunisation "exactly as they would have today, tomorrow and the day after, until the new vaccine comes in."
There were "issues of marginal statistical concern but if you delay protecting your baby, particularly against whooping cough, then you leave your child at risk. The risk from vaccines is of infinitesimally small magnitude. Leave your baby unprotected - not a good thing to do. Whooping cough does kill, normally babies who are too young to be immunised or who have not been immunised because of delay."
His robust offensive, designed to head off any MMR-like crisis, came as the government sought to highlight the positive aspects of the changes. It was caught off guard by the Daily Telegraph breaking news of the changes on Saturday, and 36 hours more of saturation media coverage. The changes were due to be announced tomorrow.
Officials insist the main driving force for change was making the polio vaccine even safer, and that using a new whooping cough vaccine with fewer ingredients that might stimulate the nervous system was a bonus.
Jackie Fletcher, founder of Jabs, a campaign group of parents who believe their children are damaged by vaccines, said: "Increasing the combinations increases the potential for an adverse reaction and restricts choice for parents."
