Q I'm very confused about the problems associated with the MMR vaccine. Should I have my baby vaccinated or not?

A This is a very tricky question, not helped by the official response to recent public debate, which has been pure spin-doctoring. You may not like what I have to say though.

At least 1 child in 200 now develops autism; it has become about ten times more common than it was 15 years ago, both here and in the USA.

This is not long in medical terms, and your GP is unlikely to have more than two or three autists on his/her books, so don't blame him for not knowing much about this.

This upsurge has been chiefly in cases that start in the second year of life, whereas before, autism nearly always showed soon after birth.

This doesn't prove that it is caused by the MMR vaccine, given at 12-15 months old, and indeed it's not that simple.

But the rise does parallel the increase in child vaccinations in general.

Vaccinations are a challenge to the immune system, and children have to handle a lot of them these days.

My opinion (and as things stand neither I nor the government's top scientists can claim more certainty than that) is that giving a triple vaccine, after several singles, is, for vulnerable kids, like kicking them when they are down.

Measles is usually a benign disease of childhood; it can cause meningitis, pneumonia and even death, but these complications are rare, and much more likely in children who are already badly nourished or otherwise unhealthy.

Third World researchers have shown that a single big dose of vitamin A can protect against such complications, for instance. So the child who lives with two chain-smokers and eats only sweets and junk food is much more at risk than the average.

If your child got measles, the risk of serious complications is certainly no more than one in 1000.

So you have to weigh this against the one in 200 risk of developing autism, which can be a devastating disability for both child and parents.

Vaccination doesn't even guarantee protection against measles - there is no such thing as a 100 per cent effective vaccine for any infection. Like all vaccines, it can also cause its own complications, including seizures, meningitis and nerve damage, though these are even more rare (but remember the debate about whooping cough vaccine some years ago?).

Also, I have no space here to discuss the toxic doses of mercury in other vaccines, which seems to be another part of the jigsaw.

For the government to deny that there is any risk from MMR is spin-doctoring, and in my view unethical.

You are not legally obliged to have your child vaccinated, and people are likely to vote with their feet.

If it were my child, I would seek out the three individual vaccines, which are likely to be much less harmful. But when a South London clinic offered single vaccines it was inundated with calls - then the government invoked legislation to hinder the importing of such vaccines, so you might have to go abroad for this. Why are they attempting to bully parents into accepting MMR?

Does it have anything to do with the legal action against the manufacturers of MMR by the parents of more than 1,000 autistic children, due in court this year?