Vaccine row as NHS continues poison jabs

Published on Tuesday 10 August 2004 01:42

THE government’s announcement of the withdrawal of child vaccinations containing mercury came under immediate fire yesterday as it emerged that at least four more vaccines containing the poisonous metal will remain in use by the National Health Service.

Ministers in Edinburgh and London yesterday confirmed that vaccines containing thiomersal, a preservative that is almost 50 per cent mercury, will be replaced with a new five-in-one jab.

The move follows the results of a scientific study that showed a link between thiomersal and autism in mice.

But confusingly, officials admit that some flu vaccines and even rarely used child vaccines containing the product will still be prescribed.

Many campaigners also fear that mercury could still threaten children if flu vaccines are given to expectant mothers.

"To inject mercury into pregnant women is very worrying indeed," said Bill Welsh, chairman of the Glasgow-based Action Against Autism group.

Withdrawing thiomersal from some vaccines but keeping it in others "beggars belief", he said.

David Davidson, the Scottish Conservatives’ health spokesman, said that the government announcement left important questions unanswered.

"It is great news that mercury is to be removed from children’s vaccines, but it does beg the question about the use of mercury derivatives in flu vaccines," he said.

"The government need to explain why they are still deemed to be safe."

Britain is one of the few developed countries where thiomersal is still widely used. Led by the United States, other countries have removed the product from all drugs, and the World Health Organisation has said that human exposure to mercury products should be minimised wherever possible.

Yet, in this country, Twinrix Paediatric, sometimes used to protect children against Hepatitis A and B, contains traces of thiomersal and four of the common NHS flu vaccines - Fluvirin, Fluarix, Influvac and Agrippal - also contain thiomersal.

While the government advises against widespread flu vaccinations for pregnant women, some doctors are calling for Britain to follow the US example, where medical authorities recommend the treatment for all mothers- to-be.

A study at Rider University in New Jersey last year suggested a link between flu in pregnant women and behavioural difficulties in their children. That study has prompted calls by British scientists, led by John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine in London and one of the world’s leading experts, for more routine flu vaccination.

The Scottish Executive last night confirmed that it continues to buy the thiomersal flu vaccines for use by NHS Scotland.

"Some of the flu vaccines that we purchase do still contain thiomersal, but what we have always said is that where equally effective vaccines are tested and licensed which don’t contain thiomersal, they will replace the ones that do," a spokeswoman for the Executive said.

Some doctors also recommend routine flu immunisations for pregnant women who suffer from asthma.

A Department of Health spokeswoman confirmed that "in general" the government advised against giving pregnant women the flu vaccine, but insisted that the recommendation was not an admission that thiomersal can be dangerous.

"It’s just the general principle that you should avoid giving anything to pregnant women if at all possible," she said, adding that since thiomersal-free flu vaccines were available, pregnant women with a particular need could be given them.

Although repeated studies had failed to prove a link between mercury and autism, researchers at Columbia University announced in June they had found autism-like damage in the brains of mice exposed to thiomersal.

Despite the widespread anxiety about the use of mercury products in vaccines, government officials yesterday insisted that the change in childhood treatments had not been driven by concern about thiomersal.

Instead, the new vaccine had been introduced to incorporate a new, injectable polio virus to replace the old oral version, officials said. The new polio treatment was incompatible with mercury.

"Thiomersal has not been a factor in the decision to change," said Elizabeth Miller, the head of the immunisation department at the Health Protection Agency. "It is a consequence of the decision to change that the vaccine that happens to be used will be thiomersal-free."

But Dr Peter English, consultant in communicable diseases at the Health Protection Agency, last week wrote in a letter to GPs that there were three reasons for the change: "The primary objectives are: to do away with whole-cell pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine; to do away with live, oral polio vaccine and to do away with thiomersal vaccines."

And a spokesman for the Health Protection Agency confirmed that the agency considers it was "not ideal to be giving injections containing heavy metal to children or to anyone".

With the switch to a five-in-one treatment due next month, ministers and public health officials are desperate to avoid a repeat of the controversy that dogged the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) triple injection.

Public worries about that treatment - which has also been linked to autism - led many parents to avoid it, and some parts of the country saw localised epidemics of diseases including measles and mumps.

In particular, officials are concerned that parents whose children are due for immunisation will be tempted to wait until the mercury-free vaccination is available next month.

Trying to allay those fears, Mac Armstrong, the chief medical officer in Scotland, yesterday urged parents: "Don’t delay, immunise today."

He added: "The important thing is these new vaccines are entirely compatible with those currently on offer, so parents taking their children along to be immunised in the next few weeks should continue to do so."

Dr David Love, the joint chairman of the BMA’s Scottish General Practitioners Committee, insisted that "there are good reasons for this move, in particular in the case for changing from oral to injectable polio vaccine".

He added: "BMA Scotland welcomes the removal of the mercury-based vaccine, not because it believes that the current vaccinations are unsafe, but because there is a more effective alternative available."

But the Patients Association attacked the government for not providing more information about the new vaccine, or the reasons for the change.

"There is so little information it is very confusing. Have we not learnt the lesson of miscommunication with MMR?" said Simon Williams, the association’s head of policy.

"How can parents be confident with these sorts of miscommunication messages?"

Jackie Fletcher, the founder of Justice, Awareness and Basic Support, or JABS, a support group for parents who believe their children were damaged by vaccines, said that parents would once again feel suspicious of the official advice on vaccinations.

"Increasing the combinations increases the potential for an adverse reaction and restricts choice for parents, when the government said it wanted to improve choice," she said.