Most safety studies on childhood vaccines have not been
                                        conducted thoroughly enough to tell whether the jabs
                                        cause side effects, a leading authority on vaccine
                                        research has warned.

                                        Dr Thomas Jefferson, who has been funded to investigate
                                        vaccine safety by the European Commission, said that the
                                        issue was the "Cinderella" of public health research and
                                        that Government officials had failed to make it a high
                                        priority.

                                        Dr Jefferson is the head of the vaccine division of the
                                        Cochrane Collaboration, an organisation of scientists that
                                        aims to make accurate information about the effects of
                                        treatments available worldwide and promotes high
                                        standards in research.

                                        He is also a board member of the European Programme
                                        for Improved Vaccine Safety Surveillance, set up by the
                                        commission.

                                        He said: "There is some good research, but it is
                                        overwhelmed by the bad. The public has been let down
                                        because the proper studies have not been done."

                                        His outspoken and unprecedented comments will anger
                                        public health officials in Britain and elsewhere, who fear
                                        that any discussion will undermine parents' confidence in
                                        national vaccination programmes.

                                        Officials at the Department of Health are already alarmed
                                        by the number of parents shunning the triple measles,
                                        mumps and rubella jab (MMR) after claims that it is linked
                                        with autism and bowel disease.

                                        Although Dr Jefferson emphasised that there was no
                                        evidence to suggest that any vaccine now in use was
                                        dangerous, he said that there was a "dearth" of sound
                                        studies on the risks and benefits.

                                        As a result, the information available on the safety of
                                        vaccines that are routinely given to babies and toddlers
                                        was "simply inadequate".

                                        Dr Jefferson also disclosed plans for a Europe-wide
                                        electronic register of children's vaccine exposure that
                                        would allow scientists to investigate the risks and benefits
                                        of inoculations using data on thousands of participants.
                                        Pilot schemes will start soon in Sweden and Finland.

                                        "We need such a system urgently," he said.
                                        "Governments are reluctant to accept this but in my view
                                        they owe it to future generations to back this idea."

                                        He was especially concerned, he said, because future
                                        vaccination programmes were likely to involve giving
                                        children "five, six, even seven vaccines all at once".

                                        A vaccine designed to protect children against measles,
                                        mumps, rubella and chickenpox in one shot is already
                                        under development.

                                        "For people like me, it is becoming more and more
                                        difficult to tease out what problems may be due to an
                                        individual vaccine," said Dr Jefferson.

                                        "It is almost becoming impossible to do this. We have to
                                        think very carefully about how we will monitor these
                                        vaccines.

                                        "We have a responsibility to these children - they are our
                                        future. It is no use having a situation where someone
                                        suggests a possible harm and everyone runs around
                                        frantically trying to find bits of evidence. What is required
                                        is good-quality information that has been systematically
                                        collated and assessed."