�90,000 payout to MMR boy but experts insist jab is safe

�90,000 payout to MMR boy but experts insist jab is safe

By Richard Palmer

THE MMR vaccine is still safe despite a landmark £90,000 compensation payout to parents whose son was left brain ­damaged after the jab, the Department of Health insisted yesterday.

A medical assessment panel awarded the payment to Jackie and John Fletcher after concluding their son was left severely disabled by the mumps, ­measles and rubella jab at 13 months old.

Robert, now 18, has epileptic fits, is unable to talk, stand unaided or feed himself, but is not autistic.

Mr and Mrs Fletcher successfully appealed after their application for compensation under the Government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was rejected in 1997.

Their original claim failed on the grounds that it was impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt what had caused Robert’s illness.

But that was overturned last week by a panel of two doctors and a barrister who ruled that on the balance of probabilities Robert’s first epileptic fit – which was 10 days after the jab – was triggered by the vaccine.

More