LETTERS: There's more to fear from measles than from an injection

Dr R. A. Fisken
Saturday 07 October 1995 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

PERHAPS the most immoral aspect of last year's mass measles/ rubella vaccination programme was the fact that while the Government was well aware that cases of severe vaccine damage could result, it told the parents of nearly 7 million children that side-effects from the vaccination were uncommon, and made no attempt to accept responsibility for anything that might go wrong.

This was made worse by the fact that, according to the Government's own figures, only 10 per cent of the children were thought to have no immunity to measles but all were vaccinated to make sure this 10 per cent were covered.

In 1979 a Royal Commission recommended that the Government should be strictly liable for vaccine damage - not only because this was morally right when damage resulted from a scheme promoted by the Government but also because it would show that the Government had confidence in vaccination. Sadly, despite our long campaign to get the Government to compensate the injured, it has so far refused to do so.

Rosemary Fox

Association of Parents of Vaccine Damaged Children

Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in