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Vaccination

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Vaccination
Doctors leaders have rejected the idea of compulsory immunisation for children in the UK, according to a new report.
The British Medical Association has published a report on childhood immunisation on the eve of its annual conference.
It calls on doctors and health workers to stress to parents that vaccination is the safest and most effective way to protect children from infectious disease.
They should therefore be encouraged to choose immunisation for their children.
However the BMA said it did not support the idea of compulsory vaccinations.
BMA Chairman Dr Ian Bogle said: "We have looked carefully at the issue of compulsory vaccination and it is true that some countries do operate immunisation programmes where there is some degree of compulsion.
"However the BMA does not think this would be right for the United Kingdom.
"The doctor-patient relationship is based on trust, choice and openness and we think introducing compulsory vaccination may be harmful to this."
The report also looked at the issue of whether parents should have a choice of vaccine, for example single doses instead of the triple MMR jab.
Parents first became worried about MMR after a paper in 1999 speculated about a possible link between the jab and autism and bowel disease. The report pointed out that the paper did not prove any link and only one of the 13 authors suggested that MMR should be given as separate injections one year apart http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-186604/Doctors-say-compulsory-vaccines.html In the US children must have proof of vaccination before entering the public school system, although it is becoming easier in many states for parents to gain exemptions from this requirement. In the UK there is no such requirement. This distinction has allowed for a comparison of the impact of scaremongering about the safety of vaccines and the effectiveness of campaigns to improve vaccination rates.
In the UK the scare that the MMR vaccine may be connected to autism



References: Balog , Joseph E., ‘The moral justification for a compulsory human papillomavirus vaccination programme’, Am J Pub Health, 99 (2009): 616-622. Bedford, Helen and Marilyn Lansely, ‘More vaccines for children? Parents’ views’, Vaccine, 25 (2007): 7818-7823. BMA Board of Science and Education. ‘Childhood immunisations: a guide for health professionals’, 2003 Bradley, Peter, ‘Should childhood immunization be compulsory?’, J Med Ethics, 25 (1999): 330-334. Calandrillo, Steve P., ‘ Vanishing vaccinations: Why are so many Americans opting out of vaccinating their children?’, Univ Mich J Law Reform, 37(2) (2004): 353-440. Goldacre, Ben. Bad Science. London: Fourth Estate, 2008. Gupta, Ravindra K., Jennifer Best and Eithne MacMahon, ‘Mumps and the UK Epidemic 2005’, BMJ, 330 (2005): 1132-1135. Horton, Richard, ‘Lessons from MMR’, Lancet, 363 (2004): 747-749. Isaacs, David et al., ‘Ethical issues in immunisation’, Vaccine, 27 (2009): 615-618. Kennedy, Alison M et al., ‘Vaccine beliefs of parents who oppose compulsory vaccination’, Pub Health Rep, 120 (2005): 252-258. Mill, John Stuart. On Liberty and other essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991 Moran, Nicola E Pland (2005-2007) and the ethical and organizational challenges facing public health policy-makers across Europe’, J Med Ethics, 34 (2008): 669-674. 19 years. <http://egap.evidence.nhs.uk/PH21/> Peltola, Heikki., ‘What would happen if we stopped vaccination?’, Lancet, 356(S1) (2000): S22. Roberts, Karen A. et al., ‘Factors affecting uptake of childhood immunisation: a Bayesian synthesis of qualitative and quantitative evidence’, Lancet, 360 (2002): 1596–1599. Sadique, M. Zia., ‘Individual freedom versus collective responsibility: an economic epidemiology perspective’, Emerging Themes Epid, 3 (2006): 12-13. Salmon, Daniel A. et al., ‘Factors associated with refusal of childhood vaccines among parents of school-aged children: a case-control study’, Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 159(5) (2005): 470-6. Salmon, Daniel A. et al., ‘Compulsory vaccination and conscientious or philosophical exemptions: past, present and future’, Lancet, 367 (2006): 436-442. (2006): 13-15. Spier, Ray E., ‘Perception of risk of vaccine adverse events: a historical perspective’, Vaccine, 20 (2002): S78-S84. Stafford, Ned, ‘Parents are sentenced to prison for not vaccinating children’, BMJ, 336 (2008): 348 UNHCR website: < http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm > Wroe, Abigail L et al., ‘Feeling bad about immunising our children’, Vaccine 23 (2004): 1428-1433.

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