PARENTS are being encouraged to ensure their children have the MMR vaccine after claims it was linked to autism were quashed.

Last week the Lancet medical journal retracted “spurious” research it had originally published which linked autism and the MMR jab.

This followed the announcement the paper’s main author, Dr Andrew Wakefield, was ruled by the General Medical Council to have broken research rules.

The director of health improvement at NHS West Kent, Dr Declan O’Neill, said: “It is hoped this will bring to an end the saga of anxiety and misinformation triggered by this unethical action.

“It is very unfortunate that we still do not know the cause of autism, however there has been a mountain of research now which disproves the contention made in the spurious article twelve years ago and which the Lancet has finally withdrawn.”