Should MMR Vaccination be Compulsory for All Children?

Edwina Hart, the Welsh Health Minister is interested in exploring options in relation to compulsory childhood vaccination policy as Wales is experiencing its largest outbreak of measles since the MMR vaccine was introduced 20 years ago, with 253 cases so far.

Earlier discredited UK research claims linked the jab to an increased risk of autism and Crohn's disease and this led to many parents not letting their children have the jab. A quarter of children under 5 have not the two necessary injections: the jab itself (between 12 and 15 months old) and the booster, before starting school.

With so many children unprotected by the vaccine there is always the possibility of an epidemic. But making vaccinations compulsory in order to start school would raise legal issues and cause objections from parents on perhaps ethical, political, and religious grounds, and could be seen as infringing the children's rights to education. Apparently the Department of Health would prefer to let vaccination remain voluntary if possible.

In the US, most of Australia, Spain and Greece, vaccinations are linked to school admissions.

Source: Guardian

Margaret Wilde www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk