Government rejects measles outbreak ‘blame’

Claims the outbreak of measles in south Wales was down to Department of Health policy in the 1990s is “completely incorrect”, the government has said. Vaccination rates fell after Dr Andrew Wakefield’s now discredited 1998 study linking the MMR jab and autism. Dr Wakefield told the Independent he had called for a single measles vaccine instead of MMR but this was not heeded. The Department of Health said its immunisation advice “has always kept the interests of patients paramount”. ‘Completely incorrect’ When questions were raised in the wake of Dr Wakefield’s research, the UK government and the vast majority of scientists insisted that MMR – the combined vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella – was safe. A spokesman for the DoH said: “Dr Andrew Wakefield’s claims are completely incorrect.” He added: “Measles is a highly infectious and harmful disease. If your child has not had two doses of MMR, whatever their age, we urge you to contact...