DOROTHY RUDD,
Sir, - What is the price differential between administering the MMR vaccine and single vaccines and does this influence official policy - or have I just a nasty, suspicious mind? - Yours, etc.,
DOROTHY RUDD,
Merton Drive,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.
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Sir, - I have watched the programmes, listened to the radio discussions and read the newspaper articles and I would like to make the following points:
(a) If the uptake of MMR has been dropping over the last number of years, why have we not seen a reciprocal drop in the number of cases of autism? These appear to be increasing at an alarming rate, but if there were a link between MMR and autism surely the number of cases would drop in line with the drop in uptake of the vaccine?
(b) If, as some parents obviously believe, the measles virus in MMR is so virulent, causing autism, bowel disease etc., why on earth would they consider giving their child the single-dose vaccine? Surely following this logic a single dose of measles virus would be much more dangerous than one mixed (maybe diluted) in a combined vaccine? The fact they are considering vaccinating implies they are not truly convinced of the link between MMR and autism.
(c) Autism is a distressing disorder both for children and parents. Understandably, parents want to know the cause of this illness. Surely all the efforts of the scientific community should be targeted at trying to find the cause (or causes) of autism rather than pursue one possible cause (MMR) for which there is a staggering amount of evidence to suggest it is not the guilty party. - Yours, etc.,
C.F. QUINLAN,
Donoughmore,
Co Cork.