Judge orders girls should have MMR jabs
For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Sign up to our free breaking news emails
Two girls aged four and 10 were ordered to undergo MMR jabs today against the wishes of their mothers.
Mr Justice Sumner was ruling in the High Court on two separate cases heard in private where the fathers wanted immunisation and inoculation protection for their daughters who live alone with their unmarried mothers.
The judge said today: "Here there is a dispute and the court has to decide whether immunisation is in their interests, whether the mothers' opposition should prevail, and whether an order should be made.
"Recognising the anxieties of the mothers and that an adverse decision will be upsetting, the children's best interests are served by receiving a programme of immunisations and an order should be made."
Of the MMR treatment for measles, mumps and rubella, where triple vaccines are administered in one dose, the judge said the benefits outweighed any risks.
Mr Justice Sumner said he was aware that a civil trial was pending in April 2004 by the parents of children who claim the MMR jab was linked to autism.
None of the parties or their lawyers were in court where the judge made an order banning any information that could lead to the identification of the children.