Hi,
I've been following the research on this very closely for a while now as my natural reaction would have to get them seperately although my oh feels very strongly about having MMR. My mum was very concerned about whooping cough jabs when I was little and refused to let me have one so I come from a back ground of not trusting if you see what I mean.
However.... having chatted to two GP friends, one who was close to retirement and so has years of experience and having kept up with all the recent research into it all by reading BBC online and newspaper reports I am 99% sure that he'll be having MMR.
My main reasons are that there was only one study that produced a link with autism, other scientists have tried to duplicate the findings (not just in the UK- notably in Japan as well as in European Countries) and haven't managed to find a link. There were some major flaws with that original study, for example a conflict of interest as the main scientist had developed a single measles vaccine himself not long before and the research was funded by a legal firm representing parents of autistic children. Now I can believe that one Country could manage to "cover up" findings but I find the idea of a global conspiracy very unlikely- we're not that good at global cooperation after all! Also, the diagnosis of autism has changed recently- we recognise it earlier, it covers a wide range of conditions that were previously not banded together and in Countries where there are single vaccines their autism rates are at a similar increase. Recent research has come up with other possible causes for a rise in autism rates as well- most recently the age of the baby's father for example.
The reason that the medical community are so keen for MMR is that mass immunisation only really works when everyone does it- the end goal is not to keep immunising kids but to get rid of the disease entirely. Mum and Dad had smallpox jabs but when I was little the disease was irradicated so no need for immunisation. The problem with single vaccines is that there there have to be 6 injections and that there is a gap between them so that your child is at risk of getting the diseases between them and if you miss your appointments the vaccines aren't as effective. It is easier for everyone to get one jab (and one booster) than to try and chase everyone to remember the follow up jabs. Ok most of us will remember but some won't and that means they can't control the disease as easily.
I had measles really badly as a kid- I nearly ended up in hospital. Kids do die of it, it would be amazing if we could erradicate it and MMR is the best bet.
It's still a hard decision but that's my personal take on it anyway. Just found this link which is quite good:-
http://black.book.users.btopenworld.com/id68.htm
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