CAMPAIGNERS fighting to give county children the right to individual MMR vaccines are setting up a petition for concerned parents to sign.

Desumo, the private company which runs the Worcester clinic offering the individual measles, mumps and rubella jabs, has created the petition amid concerns about the controversial combined triple vaccine.

Many parents believe the combined vaccine can cause autism or bowel disease.

Debbie Ryding, from Ledbury, who helped set up the organisation, says she expects thousands of parents to sign the petition.

She has vowed to take it to 10 Downing Street herself in a bid to get action from the Government.

"A lot of parents have asked if there's anything to sign when they bring their children to the clinic, so we thought we'd give it a go," she said.

"The amount of children we've seen for the single jabs has greatly increased and it just shows the demand out there and the situation needs changing.

"Parents aren't going to give up and aren't going to go away."

The petition is being sent out to the parents of all 1,500 children who are registered with Desumo, and copies will be available at all the clinic's sessions.

It has the support of charities JABS, Autism Induced Allergy, and Dr Peter Mansfield, the GP who gives the vaccines at the Worcester sessions.

It demands the reintroduction of the right for parents to choose a single vaccine programme, free of charge, as an alternative to the combined MMR vaccine.

It also demands the end of the use of vaccines containing the preservative thiomersal.

Desumo has seen a huge surge in the amount of parents interested in the single vaccines, which cost from £35 each.

When the clinics started eight months ago, each session would attract 70 children, and now 180 attend each clinic and the company gets up to two phone calls a minute from concerned parents.

Mrs Ryding believes the increase is partly to do with concerns about the chickenpox vaccine being introduced to the combined MMR.

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