'New term could see measles epidemic'

A new alert over a measles epidemic in schools was raised today as doctors offering the single measles, mumps and rubella jabs said stocks were running out.

The fear is that without new deliveries the single vaccines will run out next month - a crucial time when around half a million four and fiveyearolds will start school and should be having booster jabs.

The warning came as new research in the US yesterday claimed there is a link between MMR and autism. The team analysed blood samples from 125 autistic children and 92 children who did not have the developmental disorder.

Researchers at Utah State University found a "significant increase" in the level of MMR antibodies in the autistic children.

In 75 of the autistic children they found antibodies showing there had been an abnormal reaction to the measles component of the MMR vaccine. There was no such unusual reaction in the children without the disorder.

The supply shortage of single jabs has meant a Manchester company due to open a London clinic offering single jabs to up to 100 children a week has shelved its plans. There are already weeks-long waitinglists for single jabs in London. Fiona Lupos, director of the Manchester-based Children's Immunisation Centre, was due to open a clinic in Harley Street last month.

She said: "We have everything ready - rooms, equipment, doctors and nurses - but we don't have the single vaccines. I put in an order for 1,400 doses of rubella but was told they had been placed under restriction by the Government. We are waiting for supplies but we don't know when we will get them. We have enough for the next couple of months, and we are pretty much the same as other places. After that, without new supplies we will run out."

She added: "The Government is being naive if it thinks people can be forced into giving their children MMR. Parents we meet would rather their children caught measles than have the triple jab. We will end up with loads of children starting school unvaccinated." Last month the Evening Standard revealed that MMR uptake in London had fallen to a new low of 73 per cent, compared to the Government target of 95 per cent.

However, parents who have refused the MMR will not have the choice of paying for single vaccines, and thousands of youngsters could start school without being vaccinated. That could trigger a major measles outbreak, particularly in London where cases of measles have quadrupled.

In the first six months of this year, 100 children in the capital caught measles, mostly in nursery schools where some youngsters were known to have not been immunised because of parental objections to MMR.

Since then MMR uptake has fallen still further. The World Health Organisation says 95 per cent of children need to be vaccinated to ensure the whole population is protected. In some London boroughs uptake has fallen to 60 per cent.

One in 800 cases of measles results in death and one in 500 causes serious brain damage.

It is estimated that around 20,000 children nationwide are waiting to have one or more of the single jabs.

Sales of the rubella vaccine Ervevax are restricted because the Government says it needs to stockpile doses itself, as the UK's sole manufacturer has ceased production. Not one British doctor or clinic has doses of the single mumps jab Mumpsvax, because of production problems and supply shortages.

And while the measles vaccine is currently available, the news that drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline is to discontinue production has added to fears that supplies will soon dry up.

An Education Department spokeswoman said: "We have worked with the Health Department to make sure schools are well prepared to handle infectious disease."