SINA made a similar plea last November amid the controversy over the combined MMR jab. The Government's announcement last week sparked fresh warnings by health campaigners that a five-in-one jab could overload babies' immune systems.
Patricia McGinty, a director of SINA, said, 'It's far too onerous for us to be giving clear advice, because all the scientists are at loggerheads over it. Our position is the same as before.'
In England, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said that as a matter of good practice all day nurseries should keep up-to-date immunisation records for all children in their care and make parents aware that there may be other children in the nursery who have not had all their vaccinations, for whatever reason. An NDNA spokeswoman said, 'Nurseries should not disclose any information about the vaccination status of individual children and should not exclude children who have not had immunisations. It would be contrary to equal opportunities to exclude children on this basis.'
However, a spokeswoman for the Pre-school Learning Alliance said their advice to settings is 'to support and encourage parents to complete immunisation programmes, along with developmental checks and any other health-related appointments'.
The new combined injection will be offered to babies at two, three and four months of age and will protect against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hib (influenza) and polio.
Currently the polio vaccine is administered separately in an oral form and contains a live sample of the virus that causes the disease. But health officials have decided to use a 'dead' version of the virus instead to remove children from the tiny risk of contracting polio paralysis.
The decision follows advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and comes in the light of a successful global vaccination programme which has eliminated polio from large parts of the world and made the UK a low-risk zone.
Other changes to the vaccination include the removal of mercury as a preservative and a new version of the whooping cough component, which should cause fewer minor side effects such as swelling and redness.
Health minister John Hutton said, 'Immunisation is the best way to protect children from serious disease and the routine childhood programme has been extremely effective in achieving this. The changes set out will further improve the programme and benefit children.'
FACT FILE
* The new single jab will protect children against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, Hib (influenza) and, for the first time, polio, all in one go.
* It will replace the current polio vaccine that is administered orally.
* The new vaccination does not contain mercury.
* A new whooping cough component will reduce minor reactions such as swelling and redness.
* A new immunisation website has been set up for parents and health professionals to access information about the changes to the routine programme. Visit www.immunisation.nhs.uk.
