Pro-choice clinic joins the backlash

Published on Sunday 15 August 2004 01:37

THE controversial Scottish GP who angered ministers by offering single jabs as an alternative to the MMR vaccine last night joined the chorus of criticism of the government’s handling of the single vaccine announcement.

Although Dr Peter Copp, who runs a private clinic in Edinburgh, believes the new vaccine is safe, he claimed that the government had failed to consult with GPs and health professionals before offering the new jab.

He said: "They should have begun by consulting with GPs and health visitors before they launched the vaccine. If the MMR had not happened then it would not have mattered so much, but after MMR the introduction of any combined vaccine was going to be difficult.

"After the controversy, they should have accepted that it would be difficult to introduce a combined vaccine without consultation. They should have got input from those at the front line to prepare everyone for the new jab."

Copp welcomed the introduction of a whooping cough vaccine which was free from mercury, a service he has offered for a number of years along with the new modified polio vaccine, which is considered safer than the one being replaced as part of the switch to the new jab.

He said: "It is an advance, but the problem they have is that after having spent so long telling people there was no issue with thiomersal, they now have to explain why it is a good thing they have got rid of it."

Since 2000, Copp has been inundated by parents wanting single injections as an alternative to the MMR vaccine amid worries that the triple-vaccine was linked to autism in children.

Fears over the safety of the MMR jab were first raised in 1998 by Dr Andrew Wakefield.

However, a major statistical analysis published on the British Medical Journal website in 2001 found the rising rate of autism was almost certainly not due to the MMR injection.