The Health Department insisted this morning that the MMR vaccine is safe and should continue to be administered to children.

Reacting to media reports in the wake of a judgement in an Italian court, the department said the bad impression on the MMR jab had started from a study published in the medical journal The Lancet in 1998 .

But that study had been proven to be scientifically wrong and a fraud and the journal itself withdrew it. The British Medical Council annulled the warrant of its author on the basis of dishonesty and actions against the interests of children.

Since then, many more studies had been conducted and no links had been found between MMR and autism. The World Health Organisation and medical authorities throughout the world continued to strongly recommend the use of the vaccine. 

The department warned of the serious consequences which could be caused by mumps, measles and rubella, which the MMR jab prevented.

"A decision not to administer the MMR vaccine would not be in the interests of children," the department insisted.