BOLTON's public health bosses are spearheading a nationwide drive against measles.

But opposition groups have hit out at the latest campaign, which has Government backing.

They accuse health chiefs of failing to inform parents of the possible side effects of vaccination.

Starting next month, Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, with the support of colleagues across the country, are to vaccinate children born around 1990.

This is to bridge the gap between the first dose of the MMR vaccine which children received as toddlers. JABS - Justice Awareness and Basic Support - is a national group seeking justice for the victims of vaccine damage and trying to increase awareness of vaccines.

"Since the government first started mass vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella in 1988-89, JABS has been inundated by reports from parents who say their children have been seriously, and in most cases permanently, injured following the use of the vaccine," said Jackie Fletcher, of Golborne, who is a leading member of JABS.

"To date JABS has been contacted by the parents of more than 325 children. Injuries range from 100 per cent deafness in one or both ears to maximum brain damage, causing the child to be totally mentally and physically disabled and to require 24-hour care."

Dr Robert Aston, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control with Wigan and Bolton Health Authority, has reacted sharply to such arguments.

"In September 1994 we introduced a mass vaccination programme and led the country," he said. "This campaign covered 95 per cent of youngsters in the age group considered at risk and in the past two years there has not been one single case of the disease which can, in its most virulent form kill, maim or damage a child.

"We are on our way to eliminating certain diseases from this town and we do not want to go back to the days when certain diseases killed our children.

"I am sure there are many who remember those days and can recall only too well the horror of it all."

To catch the estimated 8,000 children who are reckoned to still be at risk, family doctors will contact parents calling them for vaccination.

Parents can contact their own health visitor, clinic or surgery to discuss vaccination.

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