RAPIDLY, there is a frightening mythology growing up around the mumps, measles and rubella triple vaccine (MMR). It is the great health debate of the moment and the Government is losing it.

Last week, we reported that the take-up rate of the vaccination had fallen as low as 77 per cent in some parts of the country, whereas a 95 per cent rate is required for the "herd immunity" which will protect us all from these diseases.

Today, we report that a private company offering three separate vaccinations in the Health Secretary's own Darlington constituency has received 300 requests from parents within days. The mythology suggests that these three vaccinations reduce the chances of a child developing autism as, administered singly, they do not overload the child's system.

But the best current advice from scientists and medical officers is that there is no evidence that MMR is not safe.

The mythology stems from the simple fact that every parent will do anything to protect their child. While there are not daily cases of mumps, measles and rubella in the community, the prospect of pumping your child full of vaccine is horrific. It is little wonder, then, that most parents do a lot of soul-searching before coming to a conclusion.

This is where leadership comes into it and, sadly, the Government has let us down. It cannot preach the safety of MMR and then refuse to say whether the young children of the Prime Minister or the Health Secretary have had it.

We respect the privacy of Cabinet members, but merely confirming that their child has had an injection that every other child in the country is expected to have is not an invasion of privacy.

But, by refusing to answer this question, the Government looks as if it has something to hide. So the mythology deepens, the take-up rate falls and society as a whole is put at risk. This hasn't been a well-thought out public strategy.

TONY Blair has been criticised for visiting the Indian sub-continent, on top of his numerous other foreign trips since September 11, while our railways are in crisis, our health service is in crisis, our education system is in crisis...

The same people making this criticism are the ones who accuse him of being a control freak who wants to be in personal charge of the railways, the NHS and our schools...

If these blatant contradictions are the best that Mr Blair's critics can come up with, it shows how poor our education system really is.