Yahoo News Nearly three quarters of MPs want to make the MMR vaccine mandatory
Almost three quarters of MPs support making the MMR vaccination compulsory, Yahoo News UK can reveal.
An exclusive poll of MPs carried out by YouGov found 40% of MPs strongly support forcing parents to vaccinate their children against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) by law. A further 31% tend to support the idea.
Last month, new figures emerged showing half a million children in the UK are at risk of dying from measles due to not being vaccinated - a figure branded a ‘growing public health timebomb by the chief executive of NHS England.
The latest NHS numbers show coverage for MMR decreased in 2017-18 for the fourth year in a row.
Between 2010 and 2017, 527,000 children were not given their MMR vaccination in the UK. Misleading and false information spread on social media by so-called 'anti-vaxxers' are thought to have contributed to the plummeting rates.
In a bid to combat the misinformation, Facebook announced plans recently to stop recommending groups and pages that share anti-vaccine messages.
Last week, Amazon was forced to investigate after an anti-vax leaflet was discovered by a Hampshire mother hidden inside a children’s book she bought from the site.
The leaflet warned that the HPV jab, the introduction of which is credited with a dramatic fall in cervical cancer rates, causes infertility and even death.
The survey found Labour MPs are more likely to back forced vaccinations, with 87% backing the policy compared to 53% of Tories.
Female MPs were more likely than male MPs to support the idea, with 79% supporting compared to 68%.
The Irish Government is currently considering making vaccinations mandatory in response to a 200% surge in measles cases in the country.
Irish health minister Simon Harris is examining whether legislation could legally be drawn up to force parents to vaccinate their children.
In April the state of Brandenburg announced it is to become the first German region to introduce compulsory vaccination for children.
Last month, Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to rule out banning unvaccinated children from schools - a policy already in place in Italy and France.
He said: “I wouldn’t rule out anything but I don’t think we’re there yet.
“In America they tried to do this and then the courts stopped them so it can be complicated, but really it’s people’s responsibility as a parent to do the right thing, it’s the right thing for their own children as well as of course the right thing for the community that everybody lives in.”
A Department of Health and Social Care Spokesperson said: "The UK has a world-leading vaccination programme and uptake remains very high at around 90% for most childhood vaccines, including MMR.
"We will continue to increase confidence in vaccination by working with social media companies to stop the spread of false information - and are reviewing how to improve vaccine uptake as part of our Long Term Plan for the NHS.”
