Serious concerns have been raised regarding the safety of children's vaccinations in UK, following the reports of increased risk of autism in children who received the MMR vaccine, for protection against mumps, measles and rubella.
Currently, children in Britain receive the maximum number of vaccinations between 2 and 15 months of birth with nearly 21 vaccines for protection against 9 different vaccine preventable diseases. The government had recently announced that this number would be increased by 3.The three new proposed vaccines would be directed against protection of meningitis, blood poisoning and pneumonia. The vaccines would be administered at 2, 4 and 13 months respectively. A booster against hib would also be instituted at 12 months. The booster for protection against bacterial meningitis would be given in combination with meningitis C vaccine.
Health authorities claim that the new plan would save the lives of nearly 50 children every year. The parents however are much concerned about overloading children’s immune system with vaccines. The public health care bodies have been blamed for inadequate and inappropriate provision of vaccination and side effects related data.
Taking into consideration, the trauma of the parents involved, it is high time that health authorities probe into the issue to resolve it amicably.
