Measles jab clinic licence delay

Cases have centred on Llanelli, Burry Port, south Pembrokeshire and Neath Port Talbot.

A private company which is offering single measles vaccines said it cannot hold them in a Carmarthenshire town caught up in a measles outbreak.

Desumo cannot get a licence to run the clinic in Llanelli in time for Saturday but is offering to take 50 children to a clinic in Worcestershire by coach.

It said it offered parents choice and met demand but NHS chiefs say the triple MMR vaccine is most effective.

The number of measles cases across Wales has risen to 241.

This includes 179 measles cases in mid and west Wales, while 32 people have been treated in hospital.

Cases have centred on Llanelli, Burry Port, south Pembrokeshire and Neath Port Talbot.

Earlier, Desumo said it had a list of parents in the Llanelli area who had made appointments to receive the single vaccine on Saturday if the clinic was approved.

But is said on Thursday it would not be able to obtain a licence in time.

Although licensed in England, to operate in Wales it needs approval of Health Inspectorate Wales, a process that could take six weeks.

They say they have 50 children already booked into the Llanelli clinic on Saturday and have offered to take them by bus to their clinic in Worcester.

Desumo said there would be no extra charge for this and parents would only pay £45 for the vaccine.

Debbie Ryding, from Desumo, said she and her husband set up the company after a personal experience with the triple vaccine a number of years ago.

'Safety'

She told BBC Wales she did not believe there would be a need for clinics like hers if parents could have a choice over how they vaccinated their children on the NHS.

"We wouldn't exist if there wasn't a demand for it," she added.

However Wales' chief medical officer, Dr Tony Jewell, warned that single vaccines were not licensed for use in the UK and said he was very concerned about the safety and effectiveness of those vaccines.

"The MMR has been used for 20 years across Europe and North America and is a very safe and effective vaccine. That's what we recommend," he said.

"We are trying to encourage people to talk to their GPs and health visitors about MMR. We're strongly encouraging people to have their children vaccinated, even their older children who might have missed it several years ago.

'Rash'

"We think [the single vaccine] is a red herring. People can get the MMR free on the NHS and we're strongly encouraging people to do that and not waste their money to some extent on this single vaccine."

There have been 55 cases in Llandudno, Conwy, and seven cases in south east Wales.

The National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS), said 97 of the cases in mid and west Wales are linked to four outbreaks in the south Pembrokeshire, Llanelli, Burry Port and Neath Port Talbot.

The other 82 are sporadic cases across seven county areas.

Many people who catch measles will have a fever, cough, red eyes, and blocked nose and feel generally unwell. The blotchy rash appears a few days later beginning on the face and spreading downwards to the rest of the body over several days.

Typically, people will be infectious from the day before their first symptoms until four to five days after the appearance of the rash.

The NPHS said anyone whose child had symptoms should contact their GP and keep them away from school or nursery for five days after the rash starts.