Oh dear, another own goal, at the worst possible time. It looked as if the MMR row was slowly ebbing away. The wide publicity given to Andrew Wakefield's undeclared conflict of interest prompted much re-examination of the supposed link with autism. The hardened believers didn't change their minds, and never will, but a glimmer of rationality flickered through the clouds of suspicion. MMR inoculation rates were rising again. And then came the five-in-one injection, and rumours of compulsory inoculation.
Perhaps it is a good idea, but it's not yet time. The Department of Health (DoH) is in too much of a hurry; sometimes they just don't seem to understand the worries of the ordinary person. The MMR episode has been damaging, and it will take time for its effects to wane. Someone should give the DoH some lessons in simple psychology: don't risk rejection by association. Instead of a careful and coordinated explanation of the changes to the inoculation programme, we got a jumble of stories, complicated by a leak that demanded a rushed press release.
What should have happened is that stocks of the five-in-one vaccine would be readily available. Almost as an aside to its introduction, the DoH could then have added that an extra advantage of the five-in-one was that thiomersal would no longer be a component. Thiomersal contains mercury, so it's a good idea to abandon the whooping cough vaccine that contains it. Many of the same people who think MMR causes autism think the same of thiomersal. They're wrong,1 but won't be convinced.
What actually happened was that the DoH said there was no evidence that thiomersal causes autism, but the vaccine would be withdrawn as a precautionary measure. Not yet, though, because there was not enough stock of five-in-one. But parents shouldn't worry about inoculating their children in the meantime.
Meanwhile, the newspapers resurrected the ‘linked with autism’ stock phrase. Out came the completely without foundation ‘Five vaccines will overload the immune system’. In the red corner: every official body thinks MMR is safe. In the blue corner (complete with photograph): Mrs Smithers knows her son was never the same after the MMR. Victory to Mrs Smithers by a knockout.
This month's dead metaphor: there are increasing worries about the volatility of oil prices. Nothing to do with vaccines, but light relief.
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2004.
