DOCTORS believe that confidence in the MMR vaccine is returning, after the number of children receiving the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination increased for the second year running.

NHS research has disclosed that about 84 per cent of two-year-olds had the MMR jab in 2005-06, up from 81 per cent in 2004-05. Vaccination levels peaked at 92 per cent a decade ago.

However, in London, take-up of the combined vaccine decreased for the second consecutive year.

Among five-year-olds, only 52 per cent have had the MMR vaccine and booster, compared with the national average of 74 per cent.

Across the country, the vaccination coverage for MMR is still short of the 95 per cent recommended by the World Health Organisation.

But the latest figures, released by the NHS yesterday, show a recovery, after uptake fell to 80 per cent, following a 1998 research paper suggesting that the jab could trigger autism and bowel disease. The paper, by Andrew Wakefield in The Lancet medical journal, has since been discredited. The scare contributed to a dramatic increase in cases of measles, however, which this year killed a child for the first time since 1992.

Joanne McCartney, chairman of the London Assembly’s health and public services committee, said that immediate action was necessary before the capital was exposed to unacceptably high health risks.

“Complications from measles and mumps can be devastating to children and their families, but London’s highly mobile population means that boosters are not reaching the right people.”

She added: “It is worrying that nearly a third of London primary care trusts did not report any data as, without knowing the true scale of the problem, we cannot begin to tackle this danger to public health.”

The Government and the majority of scientists insist that the three-in-one jab is safe.

Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GPs committee, said the figures suggested that confidence in MMR was improving. “It’s a tribute to the hard work of GPs and their staff,” he said.

However, some health campaigners expressed concern over the meaning of the statistics. Jackie Fletcher, of the campaign group Jabs, said: “Parents are being forced into having the vaccine — so it is not clear confidence is returning.”

FIGHTING THREE DISEASES

Andrew Wakefield, whose now discredited study was published by The Lancet in 1998, is being investigated by the General Medical Council. No date for a hearing has been set

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