There are a lot of ups and downs about the new five-in-one vaccine. The up side is that they are taking mercury out of the whooping cough vaccine which is what a lot of parents have been asking for for a few months now. The down side is that they have added polio.
Parents are facing a dilemma. If they have just had their baby vaccinated with the old vaccine then do they wait for the new vaccine before having the subsequent vaccines because they are told it's safer? Then there are other parents who didn't even know that there was mercury in the whooping cough vaccine in the first place. They are worried because now they don't know whether to give their baby the old vaccine next time or the new one. There is another group of parents who are questioning this new vaccine. Their attitude is - they have taken something out but what have they added? If the vaccine has been used in Canada for nine months then can we look at the trials? Where is the evidence to bring the vaccine here?
There are a lot of different points of view. The government thinks parents are either anti-vaccine or for vaccines but it's not as simple as that - there are lots of different questions which parents want answered. But nobody seems able to answer them. That will probably happen in the next few months as the Department of Health puts out literature around this new jab. But parents want the information now so they can make the decision about their children, at the moment there are a lot of parents just left in limbo.
One of the problems is that since the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine was introduced parents have lost confidence in the government. When MMR came in they were told it's a new vaccine, it's wonderful - it's only one vaccine the children don't have to have three separate injections anymore. But as the years went by they had to introduce a booster because some of the children who had been immunised still got measles and mumps. So many things about MMR have come out over time and parents just want to make an informed decision, but they just feel like they have been bullied into it.
Although there is meant to be choice in this country, parents don't feel like they are being given a choice, especially if they are told that they will be taken off a surgery list if their children don't have the vaccine or that their child cannot go to a child minder if they haven't had it. Choice has been taken away from them. Parents are now much more suspicious of the government - they don't just take what it says as being right. They are more intelligent than that.
When my daughter Rachael (17) had the MMR vaccine when she was 18 months old she had a massive convulsion and stopped breathing. It left her with epilepsy and learning disabilities. When she had the MMR it was new, it was only years later that the information came out that one in 1,000 children could have a convulsion and the vaccine that she was given was later withdrawn from the country. We are all encouraged to look after our own health and that is what parents are doing - they want to know what kind of vaccines they are giving their children. They want to see the information first before making a decision but when they ask for this information they are slapped on the wrist and accused of being anti-vaccine.
· Ann Coote is a founder member of Justice, Awareness and Basic Support (Jabs), the support group for vaccine-damaged children
