Doctors told to stop using mumps vaccine

Doctors have been told not to import or use a mumps vaccine commonly used as a single alternative to the triple MMR injection.

The Government's Committee on the Safety of Med-icines said Pavivac, made in the Czech Republic, should not be used until checks were done by the Medicines Control Agency (MCA).

Parents whose children have received a dose of the vaccine were advised to contact their GP. The most likely recipients would be the children of parents concerned about the safety of the combined MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab. The number receiving single vaccinations has rocketed in the past four years because of fears of a link between MMR and autism.

But one of the leading suppliers of single-dose injections criticised the move. Sarah Dean, managing director of Direct Health 2000, said: "We believe the MCA is guilty of both a lapse of duty and appalling scaremongering in its handling of use of the Pavivac mumps vaccine in the UK.

"Our importer was told by the MCA that it was free to supply Pavivac on 14 May 2002. Yet six months later the vaccine is suspended because of unidentified 'concerns'."

Professor Alasdair Breckenridge, chairman of the safety committee, said there were "major questions" about the manufacture, testing and storage of Pavivac. The halt on use was precautionary, he said.

Pavivac is unlicensed for use in Britain but doctors are allowed to use any drug, even those that have not been licensed, on consenting patients.