Research by Health Protection Scotland examined data on more than one million children born between 1987 and 2004. It concluded that children's vulnerability to measles has risen significantly in some areas following negative publicity suggesting links between the MMR vaccination and autism.
Between 1998 and 2003, the uptake of MMR fell by over 5 per cent. In 1998 three Scottish districts, each with more than 200 nursery children, had a measles susceptibility of over 20 per cent. By 2003 this had risen to 25 districts.
Researcher Claire Cameron, an epidemiologist of immunisation at HPS, said, 'We don't expect to see vast outbreaks, but there have been two outbreaks this year and all the individuals affected were unimmunised. The message to parents is it's never too late for vaccination. It's definitely better to immunise later rather than not at all.'
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