Anger over Livingstone's rejection of MMR jab

Doctors' leaders angrily criticised Ken Livingstone yesterday for advising parents against giving their children the combined measles, mumps and rubella injection, warning the Mayor of London that he would share the blame for youngsters' deaths.

Mr Livingstone said on Tuesday that his child by Emma Beal, his pregnant partner, would not be given the triple vaccine and advised other parents to give their children single jabs.

The chairman of the British Medical Association, Dr Ian Bogle, called for Mr Livingstone to apologise immediately and to retract his comments. "I don't tell him how to run London and he should certainly not advise and confuse parents in this way," he said.

Dr Bogle said Mr Livingstone had made an outrageous statement for someone in his position. "He will have done irreparable damage, damage that takes a long time to put right. It beggars belief that somebody would do this."

The Mayor had said parents were wary about the safety of the triple jab after reports that it could be linked to autism. "My advice to all Londoners is that if you can, get it done separately. I do not think there is a risk," he told the BBC.

The depth of the anger felt by GPs in the capital was expressed by Dr Anthony Grewal, from Hillingdon, north-west London. He told an annual BMA meeting yesterday: "Measles stalks the streets. Measles maims and kills children. When London children are disabled or die, Mr Livingstone, as they surely will unless we change current trends, then you will share the blame. You stick to newts and the Tube and leave our children's health to us."

Recent figures suggest that London has the worst take-up rate of MMR, at 72.6 per cent, compared with the national average of 83.3 per cent. The BMA also debated a motion criticising the Government for a lack of leadership over the presentation of the MMR jab.