The number of children being given the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination has fallen to another all-time low, with only four out of five having the jab before the age of two.
The further slump in uptake of the MMR will dismay public health officials who had hoped confidence was gradually being rebuilt.
The long-running controversy over the vaccination - now into its sixth year - looked to be going the government's way. The Lancet medical journal this year retracted part of the 1998 article in which scientist Andrew Wakefield and colleagues had first raised doubts about its safety, and many doctors now consider the research discredited. But statistics released by the Department of Health show that only 80% of under-twos had the MMR in 2003-4, which is a drop from 82% the previous year. The peak year for MMR vaccination was 92% in 1995-96.
The figures suggest that many parents are still anxious in spite of reassurances and scientific studies done to disprove the suggestion in the Wakefield paper that there may be a link between the jab and autism.
The public health minister, Melanie Johnson, tried to put a positive interpretation on the figures. "This annual data shows that eight out of 10 children aged two had received their MMR and more recent data from the Health Protection Agency shows that MMR uptake has increased in three of the four last quarters, which is encouraging," she said in a statement.
"A recent major study of UK children concluded that children who receive the MMR vaccine have no increased risk of autism than children who don't have the vaccine. This is consistent with numerous other studies from the UK and around the world. MMR is recognised by the World Health Organisation as having an outstanding safety record.
"Our overwhelming aim is for parents to have their children immunised with MMR, for them to be confident that this is the right thing to do, and to provide parents and health professionals with access to clear factual information about the vaccine."
The figures do not include those children whose parents have taken them for individual vaccinations for the three diseases, against the government's advice. The Department of Health has cast doubt on the quality of some of the single vaccines and warned that delays between vaccinations expose children to infection.
But the figures for London are particularly low. Only 70% of under two year-olds received the MMR, and in parts the take-up was even less. In south-east London, only 62% were immunised and in north-west London, it was 69%. The World Health Organisation recommends 95% take-up to avoid outbreaks of disease.
"Yet again MMR immunisation rates for children under two have fallen and London remains well adrift of the rest of the country," said Joanne McCartney, who chairs the London assembly health and public services committee.
"In areas of the capital, the rate has fallen below 60%. This is dangerously low. The London assembly warned more than 18 months ago that urgent action was required and yet we have seen another fall in immunisation levels. Answers need to be found and action needs to be taken quickly."
Uptake of other vaccinations for children under two was high. The figures showed that 94% of children were immunised against diptheria, tetanus and polio. Whooping cough and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae b) uptake was 93% while meningitis C vaccinations reached 93%.
