Shame on the selfish parents who shun MMR

But it did have one useful point. Whenever it was discussed, you could tell who had not had their child vaccinated. They looked at the floor and changed the subject.

This is typical of MMR avoiders. They always take the coward's route. Boycotting MMR is anti-social as well as idiotic (because not inoculating does not protect your child from anything). If the boycott is as widespread as new NHS data suggests, it points to a society where each family looks to their own — and to hell with everyone else.

Shame on these people. This new research suggests there are thousands of irresponsible parents who feel this way. London has the lowest uptake of MMR in the country with less than half of all five-year-olds vaccinated. And this in the face of warnings about a measles epidemic, with more cases in 2006 and 2007 (around 1,600) than there were in the previous 10 years.

Four years ago, when my son had his first jab, I remember speaking to mothers who were paralysed by the fear of autism. The mere thought of it blocked out all common sense. Evidence meant little to them: the suspicion of a risk was enough. This was a poor excuse then but it's a pathetic one now that the anti-MMR brigade has been comprehensively discredited.

The MMR avoiders are guilty of more than selfishness, though. They are a dangerous distraction from examining other possible reasons for the drop in immunisation. I suspect bureaucracy and bungling may also play a role. My daughter, aged two, has had far more compulsory injections than my son, aged four. In the two years between their births new regulations came in, confusing to both parents and health professionals. Now every time I go to the doctor's, the nurse double-checks the rules. No one seems to know them by heart.

Worse, as a director of the Health Protection Agency has admitted, the data may well be flawed: the problem could be more serious than we think. The NHS's new £13 billion computer system has been dogged by problems, especially in London. This year my daughter has been turned away for vaccinations twice at our local GP's because the system has crashed. If there could be a technical or bureaucratic explanation for this shortfall, it needs urgent investigation.

We need to ensure that anyone who wants to inoculate their children can do so without fuss or confusion. This is the only defence we have left against the diehard MMR avoiders. They, in the meantime, need to ask themselves something I should have had the guts to scream at the mumps-obsessed playgroup. Surely, if something was this serious you would shout it from the rooftops and want all children to avoid the danger, not just your own? Or does charity really only begin — and end — at home?