By ANGELA WARHURST TO immunise or not to immunise? It's a question which dogs every parent to one degree or another from the day their baby is born.

Critics say that to listen to the "so called experts" there's no dilemma, it's a question of parental duty, of doing the right thing.

Yet there are 2,000 parents out there who are battling for compensation, adamant the problems facing their children are a direct result of immunisation.

From the day your baby is born it is monitored, it's arrival fed into the national child health system computer.

Parents are asked to sign an immunisation consent form when their child is a babe in arms but this is in no way binding and teams of community nurses working in Bolton are anxious to make sure every parent should be able to question and question again if they need to.

These nurses see parents and their babies at regular intervals during a child's development and they put themselves on the front to answer parents' natural concerns.

It is the MMR vaccine-Measles Mumps and Rubella- which causes the vast majority of parents most concern.

And in 1998 when reports linked the vaccine to the incidence of Crohn's Disease and autism, Bolton, in line with many other towns and cities across the country, noticed fewer babies being presented for immunisation.

"At the end of the day, it is up to us as professionals to talk to parents, to present the facts, to listen to them, answer their queries as best as we can and acknowledge their concerns," explained Kath Bailey, head of Bolton's Community Nursing Services, "

"We will speak to anyone about vaccination, we can not and do not insist a child is vaccinated against a parents wishes, but it is part of our job to present the facts as they are known and to listen to parents who have concerns," she added.

Although the vast majority of babies are given the MMR vaccination at 13 months there is no hard and set rule they must be vaccinated by this date and with constantly changing practice, the community nursing service is becoming increasingly flexible about meeting parents needs and taking their personal circumstances into account.

A parent's right to be in possession of all the facts and to make an informed choice is central to Bolton mother Ann Coote's battle.

Ann who lives in Farnworth, is one of hundreds of mothers across Britain convinced her daughter's problems in life were caused directly by the MMR vaccination.

Rachael, who is now 11, was given the MMR vaccination at the age of 18 months and within 48 hours had fallen into a comatose state, presenting along the way the classic signs of meningitis. A pupil at Woodside School, Rachael has epilepsy and learning difficulties, problems which, before the MMR vaccination, were not there.

"She was lively, intelligent active baby," said Ann.

Having appeared on national TV calling for more information to be made available to parents Ann is no stranger to the limelight and she is determined, through her action against the international drugs company SmithKline Beecham Plc and Smith Kline and French Laboratories Ltd, to prove her case in the High Court.

"Parents have a right to choose and to choose they must be properly informed," said Ann.

"Every parent wants what's best for their child but they deserve full access to all the information on vaccination there is, without it they can feel pressured into taking a decision.

"There should not be the pressure which I strongly feel there is to have your child immunised as and when the department of Health recommends, there have to be choices," she added.

THE latest statistics published by Wigan and Bolton Health Authority show Community Healthcare Bolton is in first place amongst all the trusts of England and Wales for diptheria, tetanus and polio. Wigan and Bolton Health Authority as a whole is in fourth place. For MMR the Health Authority is in 13th place across the whole of the country.

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