Epidemic Week In Week Out

health emergency. It might have claimed a life. It took him to die

to get it diagnosed. It's reignited an old argument - single vaccines or

triple MMR? I wouldn't want to give it to her knowing something could

happen. Tonight, we ask could the epidemic have been prevented.

were lulled into a false sense of security by the absence of measles

over many years. You failed? I think we have done a huge amount.

enough? We go inside a vaccination clinic being investigated by medical

authorities. This is about business. It is not about public health?

it is not about business. What stops us opening up in Swansea? That will

Britain's worst measles epidemics and it started so simply. It began

in early November. We had three cases of measles in three distinct

family groups who had no knowledge of each other or any contact with

each other here in Wales. Except they had been to the same holiday

resort in the South West of England. Measles has been a ticking time bomb

and for years, more than 70,000 children in Wales have been left

exposed to this potentially deadly disease because of a row which

erupted before many of them were even born. Parents were left

confused about the safety of the MMR vaccine and that's resulted in a

public health emergency which is still spreading and is showing

little sign of slowing down. minutes, that is enough to give you

the infection if you have not been vaccinated. When Laura Berry caught

it last month, her family feared the worst. They were frightened that she

wouldn't survive. To be honest, I thought it was life and death for

Laura. That is how frightened I was. She used to say, "Oh, mam. I don't

know whetherly be here the next day." It is hurtful to hear her

saying that. It felt horrible and I felt fainty. I couldn't get out of

bed because I was weak. I was boiling hot. I felt claustrophobic.

It was really horrible. 13-year-old Laura, like around 6,000 other local

children, hadn't had the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. A decade

ago, Kay had read stories about possible links to autism. I have

five children. The other four have had the MMR. At the time, I didn't

think it was safe for me to have Laura done. I'm really sorry now.

Nearly 40 pupils at Laura's school have also had measles, an ordeal for

them and their families. I was crying with her sometimes. Her eyes

as well, she couldn't open her eyes because her eyes were puffy, really

bad and sore. Her stomach was worse than anything. There were bad pains

in her belly as well. This is the worst illness I have seen on Laura.

A handful of cases in November rapidly turned into an epidemic,

when hundreds became infected in neath and Port Talbot. MMR jabs are

being offered in hospitals and schools to help contain the spread.

Good afternoon, can I help you? Every new measles case is reported

to Public Health Wales. Could you check? Lots of the younger

generations have forgotten how serious this used to be, before we

had the vaccine, 100 people would die every year. It does have serious

consequences. 120% will get complications, whether that is

middle ear infection, pneumonias, more rarely encephalitis. It is

highly infectious. It is one of the most infectious viruses we have.

the outbreak turned into an epidemic, doctors predicted someone

would die. Events in Wales have been drawing attention from around the

world. This is a topic that's of great interest to us. Around the

country, there are more figures showing there are some low

vaccination rates in Australia, so the example of Wales is a good

indication of what might happen in Australia over the next few years.

MMR boosters aren't normally given until children are about to start

nursery. But now many parents are afraid to wait. He is not due until

he is three. They said come down today to get them done to be on the

safe side. But the biggest target, and one of the most vulnerable

groups, are teenagers. Here at the epicentre of the outbreak in

Swansea, there are still plenty of parents who are concerned about how

best to protect their children. And that has created a business

opportunity for private clinics who are selling single vaccinations.

They say they are offering a choice to parents despite the warnings from

public health experts. One clinic in particular is causing concern. This

is one of its clinics, in Manchester. It's busy offering

single measles vaccinations against NHS advice. This mum has travelled

145 miles to get her daughter injected. That's better, isn't it? I

think the MMR is too much for a baby. And I wouldn't want to give it

to her knowing that something could happen. Everybody's realised with

the outbreak of the measles in Swansea, it's prompted people to

come for the boosters and also for the first immunisation of rubella or

measles. They are choosing to pay �110 for the single measles vaccine.

The MMR is free on the NHS and it is more effective according to public

health officials. I know people, they swear blind it is because of

the MMR jab. It is only since they have had the MMR jab that they have

had problems. I'm not prepared to take any chances with my kid's

health. They are worried because it was from 12-month-old and it is

three live vaccines in one. Most of the patients who come to us have got

allergies, eczema, which then shows they have a low immune system.

Public health officials advise against single jabs, but the company

is heading to Swansea. We want to help out in Swansea. We are going to

do a relief clinic within the next two weeks to help with the measles

outbreak. But Public Health Wales says there is no need. Do parents

still have the right to choose? Having developed a vaccine, which is

just as effective as the singles used to be, and now available in

one, I would like to think parents can accept that that is the right

thing for their child. Two injections instead of six and longer

protection against the three viruses. Sometimes, it doesn't make

sense to offer - choice doesn't make sense because it is neither good

medicine and it is more painful. It is difficult, isn't it? This is an

epidemic that should never have happened. Measles is preventible.

For 15 years, health officials have known that the number of children

who have received the MMR vaccine is dangerously low. In some areas, one

in four have been left unprotected. And they have been called "the

Wakefield generation". Judgment day for Dr Andrew Wakefield who

triggered one of the biggest health scares in a generation. A maverick

whose reputation now lies in tat tatters. In 1998 he published

research linking the MMR vaccine to autism and bowel problems in

children. He's since been struck off. The allegations against me and

against my colleagues are both unfounded and unjust. The GMC said

he had shown a callous disregard for the children he treated, was

dishonest in his research methods, abused his position as a doctor and

was irresponsible. But the doubts created by that

flawed research still linger. Swansea mum Natalie Bamford helped

lead a high-profile campaign questioning the safety of the MMR in

the late' 90s. This all began for me when my first son turned one and the

press started reporting on the safety of MMR. At the time, it was

like let's choose the lesser of the two evils, let's go down the single

vaccine route. That is what I chose to do. Natalie turned to her local

newspaper for help to find like-minded parents who wanted

single vaccines. She was overwhelmed by the response. That weekend, the

Express or the Mail came out with a huge double spread on the unsafety

of the MMR. The Evening Post printed my story on the Monday. And oh my

God, it just, instead of ten people, I got 1,800 people. My phone was off

the hook. Parents struggled to find private clinics offering single

vaccines so Natalie and another mum from Worcester set one up

themselves. To the media, this was a fantastic story. What was it to the

mums? Terrifying! We didn't know where to turn. We didn't know what

to believe. You know what I mean? I can only imagine, you know, what we

had to become mini scientists all of a sudden and try and figure out

graphs and data that we didn't understand. In the Swansea, Neath

and Port Talbot areas, the uptake of MMR since has remained low. The

Evening Post says it was simply reporting local concerns. Was it

ever your intention, when you got involved in the campaign, to stop

children being inoculated? No. There was always choice. I have to put

this question to you... I blame the door of Andrew Wakefield. He

stopped, if people did nothing, then that was their choice. But the blame

has got to be laid at the door of his agenda and what he was trying to

get out of doing this. Do you accept any responsibility for this as well?

You were involved in a very... don't accept any responsibility for

this. I dealt with the problem. point is this: You were involved in

a very visible campaign... choice. Saying this is, "We are very

worried about this." The consequence of worry is sometimes fear. It

propagates fear. Maybe that is what has happened in this community?

never told anybody that you should not get vaccinated on this, but I

told them if you are worried, like I am worried, like all the parents

were worried, then we should go with the single vaccine until this is

cleared up. Thousands have queued for emergency MMR jabs but there are

thousands still out there who have yet to be protected. Since

mid-November, measles has spread from the Abertawe Bro Morganwg

Health Board area to Hywel Dda and Powys. Measles now exists in nearly

every Health Board area. Today, there are just under 1,000 cases

across Wales. Public Health Wales has warned that in measles

outbreaks, one in 1,000 people can die. Last Thursday, the first

suspected measles death was reported. This is something that has

not been confirmed. We are working with the Coroner. Measles was one of

many lines of enquiry that he will be under taking. Our lives will

never be the same. We have lost such a big character. We loved him so

much. Gareth Colfer Williams lived with

Cairo and Dakota in Swansea. He had measles, but it wasn't diagnosed.

took him to the surgery with a rash and everything, he could barely

stand. He was so badly let down by the whole system. It wasn't as if he

was in bed, had a rash, stayed in bed, didn't do anything about it. He

tried. He tried. I tried. I took him out-of-hours. He phoned our GP. We

went, we saw three GPs who told us was sent home from the surgery with

paracetamol. She felt for a pulse and rang nine

nine and they are telling her how to resuscitate him which she said

was, you know, I wanted to touch him. I wanted to give him a cuddle.

But we had to see him behind a screen because of everything. If he

didn't die of measles, he had measles, you know, undiagnosed

until, it took him to die to get it diagnosed. It is ridiculous.

The ABM U health board says it will investigate any concerns raised by

the coroner and it added in general measles is difficult to diagnose in

its early stages because many symptoms are similar to other

illnesses. Immunisation does not hurt.

decades, vaccines helped stop the spread of disease. Immunisation

against measles began in 1968 with single jabs, but these were

replaced with the MMR 20 years later.

Online, it is easy to find private clinics offering single jabs. They

make clear there is nothing wrong with the triple vaccine.

But one which set-up a clinic in a Swansea hotel last weekend, told

parents they were offering a safer alternative. Parents were paying

�50 a child to register with the Children's Immunisation Centre and

�110 for the single measles vaccine. I don't know. I don't know the

reasons why they give the combined rather than individual, but I would

prefer to do it individually. I think they should give you a choice.

REPORTER: You have had both of them done today? Yes, Louis had his

booster and Theo started the course. These parents found the company

online. There is a lot of parents having the three in one because

they can't afford the single ones. They wouldn't have the three in one

by option. They are having to have it because they can't afford the

singles. Again, that's taken out of their hands.

It is a huge overload on the immune system and I feel happier with

having given the single vaccine today. We saw the queues for the

MMR and we saw so many thousands of children are unprotected and

measles can kill and measles will kill and that's why we're there to

offer protection against the measles.

REPORTER: To those people who would say this is a cynical business move

to go into Swansea and other parts of the UK, this is really about

business, it is not about public health? No. It is not about

business at all. It is not. We operate the clinics as and where we

operate them across the country. We're opening up more. We are going

to open up in Newcastle so so what stops us opening up in Swansea?

That's is going to be a permanent clinic.

The company suggests an awe autism link to the MMR vaccine. What about

Wakefield? Was he right? There was nothing proven that was his take on

the combined. About well, he was struck off? Well, if parents want

to read what was in the papers and they are worried, then they can

make the decision. It is not helping the country as a whole, not

having children vaccinated. No, there are clinics that offer

single inoculations and what's your view of those? It is a business,

isn't it for them? It is a business. I don't engage with them. I have no

part in their regulation or their reporting. They exist. Are they

playing on people's fears? You will always find, people can always make

money money out of other people's miseries. There is no doubt they

will come to Swansea because they will think, well, you can see, they

want their children vaccinated, that's why they are queuing up at

our clinic on a Saturday, 1,800. 20,000 teenagers only had the first

part of their MMR jabs, which means they have a chance of catching

measles. Sam has finished his first day after weeks away. The friends

were wondering what was wrong with me. I told them what happened and

they were shocked, really. It felt weird going back after a month

learning again. Hundreds of his fellow pupils hadn't been

vaccinated. It started hitting me when I was in school, the pain came

on in my throat and eyes and I started getting dizziness. It came

to the Saturday where I had an asthma attack, my mother said she

found a rash behind my ear and I panicked a lot. I heard things from

my friends which were like you could go blind and even in some

cases you could die, of course. He was very scared and his

breathing became uncontrollable. We had to call an ambulance and it was

very frightening at the time. I was panicking a lot. But when the

ambulance came and it slowly got better, but the measles, the pain

was still there and it was getting worse. Sam's parents decided not to

let him have the second MMR vaccination because he was ill

after the first. Because of the very sear reaction

he had a baby, we won't pick him up, he just cried constantly and it was

an extremely awful time for us as parents.

They say at that time, they were worried by Andrew Wakefield's

research. Without his MMR booster, Sam wasn't properly protected. In

parts of Wales, uptake for the second jab remains low, so

shouldn't doctors have done more to tackle the issue? There has been

more than a decade in which, you know, thousands of people have not

been persuaded that they should have had their children... There

are thousands, but there are still many thousands who haven't? Yes,

you are right, I would wish that 40,000 had it.

You failed? I think we have done, we did a huge amount. I think it

was a hard... But not enough...It was a hard road back. Enough for me

when it is at 95% and I want every child protected. 95% doesn't cut it

for me because that means five children in 100 will go through

life unprotected against measles, mumps, rubella. I think we have

done a huge amount. There are many children out there

who are who have not been inoculated? You are right and I

think when measles are not circulating, when it is not a

threat to your child, when your grandmother talks about we had it

when we were little and we were fine. Sometimes it is hard to

recognise that actually it is a threat to your child.

The letter from school about the jab.

Sam is having the MMR booster vaccination. I feel so guilty that

he went through such a hard time having the measles, contracting the

measles. And you know, I do feel guilty, but I still stand by my

decision as parents that we made the right decision.

To stop measles in its tracks, 95% of children and teenagers in Wales

have to be vaccinated against it. Here in Powys, only 74% of

teenagers have had all their jabs. Not surprising that this is an area

where there is another outbreak of measles.

A cluster of cases started emerging before Easter. Across the county,

there are 75 cases. All three of Shirley Pake's children caught it.

They had never been immunised. Nine-year-old Ryan is still

recovering. My neck hurt. My throat hurt. Heavy

headed. Not fine. Doctors are still trying to discover how the disease

spread to this rural community.. know of about three, I think, other

families that have had it. All three of them ended up in hospital,

being checked out because of the complications that can arise from

measles. When Shirley's eldest daughter

caught measle, she took Ryan for his MMR, but it was too late, he

caught the disease. She regrets listening to the scare stories

years ago. I wish I did give them the MMR at

the time because of seeing how sick they were. I could have avoided

that, but yes, go and get your kids done.

Powys has a poor record on MMR uptake among teenagers. One doctor

admits he and others should have seen this outbreak coming.

There is a sense of measles was not around and nobody was really,

really pushing it as much as perhaps we should have done. It is

not that we didn't have the information that these uptake rates

were poor, but I think, perhaps, we need to hold our hands up and say

we could have done more there. We were getting regular information

about uptake rates and we were regularly informed the rates were

not sufficient to guarantee protection against an outbreak.

Why didn't you and your colleagues respond to that?

I think we were, you know, perhaps lulled into a false sense of

security by the absence of measles over many years. I think if we had

had any minor outbreaks, I think we we would have been more acidious in

persuading people to have the vaccine.

Back in Swansea, the Children's Immunisation Centre persuaded

parents it is offering a safer option. It claims its measles

vaccine offers 97% protection after the first dose.

Your website says single vaccines give a higher level of protection

against measles, mumps, rubella than MMR? The single vaccines for

the measles and the rubella offer a higher percentage cover than the

combined. Especially after the first dose. Says who?Says the

manufacturers guidelines. This is the manufacturers? Yes.And where

has this been established in peer group science and where is the

literature to back that up? From the manufacturer.

The clinic said it couldn't provide us with the manufacturer's

literature, but if stands by its claims.

What do you make of that? There is no evidence for that. I have

reviewed the literature, I haven't seen a single peer reviewed article

which suggests that the single measles vaccine is better than the

MMR vaccine. But they go further, they say on

their website that their single MMR vaccination is the only safe way?

They can say that, but I know that MMR has been used for 30 to 40

years now. Millions of doses administered, it is a safe vaccine

and if they say it, they say it, but it is not the only safe way.

MMR is the best way. You get protection against measles, mumps,

rubella, all of them effective. Single vaccines for mumps aren't

available in the UK, which made us wonder how the clinic can offer a

safer option to the MMR, we are not alone in wondering about their

claims? I just think that some of the claims on there and some of the

statements on those websites appear to be misleading and ambiguous and

are a serious cause for concern. Today, the company removed its

online claim about single vaccines being the only safe option. But

still says its single jabs for measle and rubella offer higher

protection than MMR. Its claims are being investigated by Public Health

Wales and the medicines regulator, the HMRA. Fears are growing for

over one million children in England who have not been vabg

vaccinated. While here, doctors will examine how this outbreak has

been handled. From past outbreaks, we have had

lots of lessons to learn. We will be talking to parents, both of hoz

who had the -- those who have had the vaccine and children who

haven't to understand what more we could have done. What message would

they have heard? What might have made the difference earlier.

. In Swansea, Gareth Colfer Williams' family are preparing for

his funeral. As they wait to find out what caused his death, they are

taking legal advice and want an inquiry into his treatment.