Schoolgirls must have MMR vaccine against their wishes
The High Court has ruled that two sisters aged 15 and 11 should receive the MMR vaccine despite opposition from the girls and their mother.
Mrs Justice Theis ruled that vaccination with the combined vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella is in the best interests of the girls at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London.
The girls’ father – who is separated from their mother – asked the court to order the vaccination after becoming concerned for his daughters’ safety.
This week the MMR jab was given to more than 200 at-risk pupils at a school in South Wales after three new measles cases were confirmed, three months after a major epidemic ended.
The father told the court both parents had agreed to inoculate the older girl. But they decided later that she should not receive a booster, and the younger girl should have no vaccinations, when research was published linking the vaccine to autism.
The judge said: “In 1998 there was great public debate about the MMR vaccine. Much of the controversy surrounded the research paper, published in The Lancet, by Dr Andrew Wakefield which cast doubt on the vaccine’s safety and the risks said to be attached to administering it, particularly in relation to the possibility of autism.
“As a consequence of this, the parties decided, in consultation with their GP, that (the older girl) should not receive her booster, and (the younger girl) has had no vaccinations at all.
“The father now states he was a reluctant participant in the joint decision not to inoculate. He says he has become increasingly concerned that the girls have not been immunised and were not protected.”
Mrs Justice Theis added: “Dr Wakefield’s research paper was later discredited. The Lancet subsequently retracted Dr Wakefield’s paper and his research was not approved by the General Medical Council.
“The NHS, General Medical Council, Chief Medical Officer and the World Health Organisation all recommend that children should have this vaccine. He is concerned that the consequences of contracting measles, mumps and rubella are serious.”
The judge made the ruling on September 5, after a private hearing on July 31, and it was published today on a legal website after the BBC learned of the case and reported the result.