MMR: cost for single vaccines near £500

Published on Sunday 13 August 2006 00:42

THE cost of single injections for measles, mumps and rubella at one of Scotland's biggest private clinics has soared to almost £500, sparking criticism from parents' groups.

Edinburgh clinic GP Plus has raised the price of a course of single vaccines by over 60% in the past four years to 475 with an additional 15 fee which parents must pay for an information pack before their child can have the treatment.

The move comes despite overwhelming evidence that the triple MMR jab is safe and that fears it may be linked with autism and bowel disease are unfounded. But many parents remain unconvinced and hundreds opt for single jabs every year.

The price charged by GP Plus, run by Edinburgh GP Dr Peter Copp, is 180 more expensive than that charged by English medical companies who travel north of the Border to provide the jabs at temporary clinics once every few months.

Last night, GP Plus defended its pricing policy but campaigners for single vaccines said they were surprised at the cost.

A spokesman for Jabs, the UK support groups for vaccine-damaged children, said: "The price charged by this clinic seems to be towards the top end of the scale, equivalent to that charged by the more exclusive London clinics.

"However there is no regulation on cost. Parents will go to the ends of the earth to get what's best for their child but there are limits."

Fears were first raised about the combined MMR vaccine in 1998 when scientist Dr Andrew Wakefield at the Royal Free Hospital in London suggested it may be linked to autism and bowel disease in children.

Thousands of parents boycotted the vaccine, immunisation rates fell and cases of measles, mumps and rubella soared.

Wakefield's small-scale study was called into question when a raft of larger investigations failed to find any evidence of a link between autism and the vaccine.

However, the controversy has continued. Across the UK there have been 430,000 doses imported in the past three years as worried parents prefer to pay out rather than run the risk of leaving their children unvaccinated - or let them undergo the MMR jab.

Meanwhile autism is at a record high with more than one in 100 children affected.

A spokeswoman for GP Plus last night denied making huge financial gains from the single vaccines but refused to disclose how much money it made from each patient.

She said: "We make the same on our vaccines as we have since the beginning, but prices have gone up because single vaccines are getting harder to come by, and doctors' consultation charges have gone up."