PARENTS NEEDLED OVER TB JAB

16-06-2006

British newspapers are full of the country's measles epidemic - caused by parents unwilling to vaccinate their kids with the three-in-one MMR jab, the only one provided by the government.

Those who want to opt out - fearing their children might fall victim to autism - are putting other younsgters at risk by not having vaccinations at all.

What we're not being told about is the innoculation that hundreds of parents are seeking but which they're currently denied by government policy.

Anxious mums and dads are campaigning for the re-introduction of the TB immunisation, traditionally given to every youngster in their early teenage years.

The BCG jab had ensured that outbreaks of one of earth's most dangerous diseases had been dramatically reduced in the UK.

Yet it has never been wiped out altogether, and of the 2 million people globally who die from it, there are 350 every year in this country.

What's more, the rate been rising year on year, and Britain now has it's highest death rates from TB since the early 1980s.

So what has been the government's reaction to this emerging epidemic?

Why, to scrap the jab of course.

The decision to withdraw routine TB jabs was announced, interestingly enough, on 7th July 2005 - when bombers struck in London.

Truly a good day to bury bad news.

No wonder so many parents simply don't know that it's been scrapped.

Health professionals argue that the traditional BCG jab is only effective for 15 years, and doesn't work for everyone in any case.

The likeliest age for catching TB is the 25-64 age group so even if youngsters are given the needle, its effects may well have worn off by this time.

So now the government is concentrating on “at-risk” groups, notably inner-city areas with large ethnic minority populations.

But when the disease can be transmitted through the air with a cough or a sneeze, isn't everyone in multi-cultural Britain part of the “at risk” group.

Especially as new arrivals in the country are not routinely tested for tuberculosis.

Many parents clearly think so, and find themselves at war with the NHS which refuses them a jab they think could save the lives of their children.

They currently drumming support through an online petition. You can sign up at the website www.tbornottb.co.uk