Families win support for vaccine compensation claim

More than 100 families who blame their children's deaths or serious injuries on the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine have won legal aid to investigate a possible multimillion pound claim for compensation. At least eight British children who were given the vaccine since it was introduced in 1988 have died within days or months of being vaccinated. In one case, that of 3 year old Hannah Buxton, the official tribunal dealing with vaccine damage has held that the vaccine was to blame and awarded the parents pounds sterling 20 000 compensation.

Other children who were given the vaccine have been diagnosed as having a range of disorders, including brain damage, deafness, epilepsy, speech and communication problems, arthritis, and immunodeficiency …