THE uptake of MMR vaccine for two-year-olds in Gwent is higher than anywhere else in Wales - but there is "no room for complacency", says a health authority expert.

The latest figure for first doses of the triple measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is well below the level that must regularly be reached.

Some 86.2 per cent of children in Gwent who reached their second birthday during October-December 2001 were vaccinated with MMR.

But a consistent uptake of 95 per cent is required on a nationwide basis if an immunisation programme is to be deemed successful.

"We have a higher uptake than the rest of Wales, but there is no room for complacency," said Dr Lika Nehaul, consultant in communicable disease with Gwent Health Authority.

The MMR vaccine has been controversial for several years, following a study that suggested a possible link between it and incidences of autism and bowel disease in youngsters.

A link remains unproved but parents' worries over MMR have increased, despite concerted government reassurances over its safety.

Immunisation rates have fallen nationwide. In some areas they are "dangerously low", according to the Public Health Laboratory Service.

Dr Nehaul, recommending that the health authority continue to offer two-dose MMR vaccine, told the health authority board that MMR has been "subject to much closer, and more rigorous scrutiny" than the single dose measles vaccine that many parents want to see offered as an alternative.

"There is well-documented evidence that two doses of MMR are needed to give maximum protection", he said.

Boosters are offered for children at age five, as it has been found that a single MMR jab at age two does not offer protection to all youngsters.

The latest complete year figures - for 2000/01 - show that 87.8 per cent of Gwent two-year-olds had their MMR jab, compared to a Wales average of 84.5 per cent. More than 92 per cent of Gwent five-year-olds had their MMR booster jab, compared with a 91 per cent all-Wales uptake.

But recent cases of measles in Gateshead, part of an area with a 91.4 per cent immunisation rate, show that even places with quite high MMR uptakes are not exempt.