TAKE-up rates for the controversial MMR jab in Bromsgrove are among the best in Britain, it has emerged.

The town's primary care group was pipped to the post in new Department of Health league tables only by Kettering PCG.

Kettering achieved a 100 per cent immunisation rate, while Bromsgrove - constituency of ardent single jab campaigner Julie Kirkbride - came in at 98.6 per cent.

The worst childhood immunisation figures were in London boroughs, where Haringey Primary Care Trust achieved just 68 per cent.

Performance indicators looked at key areas of services during 2001-2.

These included how many patients were able to see a GP within 48 hours, the number of teenage pregnancies and how many circulatory disease deaths.

Experts say coverage of MMR vaccination must reach 95 per cent to create so-called "herd immunity" and prevent outbreaks.

Last year, the county was plunged into debate about the triple vaccine - which parents fear leads to autism and bowel disorders - when Ledbury mum Deborah Ryding set up single jab clinics in Worcester.

Bromsgrove MP Miss Kirkbride has tabled a Parliamentary Bill to give parents the right to demand separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines on the NHS.