PARENTS in East Lancs have been urged to back the controversial MMR vaccine, after the most in-depth investigation ever showed it to be safe.

But a health watchdog warned that more had to be done to boost parents' confidence in the jab, linked with autism and inflammatory bowel disease in children.

A team of doctors who examined the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine independently from the Government, and published their results in the British Medical Association's journal Clinical Evidence, concluded that it was not linked to autism and inflammatory bowel disease.

The team also examined the single measles vaccination, which many parents have opted for since fears were raised about the safety of the combined jab, and declared that that was safe for children, too.

Dr Jim Paris, Director of Public Health for Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust, said: "We strongly support the MMR vaccine and I want to reassure parents that it is safe. It was safe for my children.

"When I say it is safe, it is in the context that nothing is 100 per cent safe - even crossing the road is not 100 per cent safe.

"But on the balance of safety, it is safer to have your children immunised than to not have them immunised."

A spokesman for the public health and health protection team in East Lancashire, which is now based in Accrington, said: "We still encourage parents to go for the MMR. There is no single vaccination available, as part of national guidelines."

Nigel Robinson, chief officer of the Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Community Health Council, said: "I think a lot of parents will still be sceptical and will still wish to go for the single injections for their children.

"While I am sure this is a very credible report, the Government needs to do more to convince parents and to give them choice. I think we are still a long way off that.

The news comes six months after the director of public health for East Lancashire Health Authority warned a child could die from measles if there was an epidemic, because so few children were being immunised locally.

Parents in Blackburn town centre had mixed views about the jabs. Claire Eaves, 21, had no qualms about giving her three-year-old daughter Megan the MMR jab.

Lisa Valander, 37, had both her children vaccinated and was "totally reassured and very positive about it".

But Sharon Daweson, 31, of Foxwood Chase, Accrington, declined to give her four-year-old daughter Charlotte the MMR vaccination.

She said: "They want to do too much with one jab and there just is not enough research to say it is safe."