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2. Immunisation 4/5 Making Choices

3. Roles to Play • Each group will receive a briefing sheet and have enough time to become familiar with who they will be representing during the discussion. • Different groups will be given different facts, some of which they may choose not to share • This is exactly how it would (and did) work in the real world.

4. Discussion • In your groups, you will need to discuss the roles you are to play. • You will be sharing ‘your’ opinion on the MMR vaccination and whether you would recommend it to the parents of a young child. • What would you recommend? • How will you persuade them that you are correct?

5. Persuasion • You will be trying to persuade the rest of the class to make a particular decision about MMR vaccination. • There are several strategies you could use but no matter what your arguments, you will need to speak clearly and listen to each other.

6. Decision • Although the national vaccination programme is not voted on, in the UK parents make individual decisions about their children’s vaccinations. • As well as making your choice (Yes or No to MMR vaccination for your ‘child’) you will need to predict the class result.

7. Comparison • In the UK, about 85% of two-year-olds received their MMR from 2007 to 2008. • How does this compare to the class results? • Which of the groups most influenced your decision? • Could we apply this to improve UK vaccination rates? • Should we?

8. GP Surgery • You are a team of family doctors at a surgery. • You provide the MMR vaccination and have access to the latest evidence showing it is both safe and effective. • Over the last year you have had several unvaccinated patients who went on to catch measles and mumps.

9. Wakefield and Co. • You are the team that includes Andrew Wakefield. • Your recent paper has suggested a link between MMR and symptoms of autism. • Families suing the vaccine company are paying you for advice in their case. • You have patented a single measles vaccine which could replace the MMR version

10. Grieving Family • Your 1-month-old baby girl died of measles; she was too young to be vaccinated. • She caught it from the son of one of your friends. • He had not been vaccinated because his parents were worried about side-effects. (based on genuine case of Dana McCaffery)

11. Natural Health Therapist • You are a team of alternative health practitioners who have a general policy to recommend against vaccination. • You believe that lifestyle choices (e.g. diet and exercise) contribute to a strong immune system. • You provide ‘preventative’ treatments for people of all ages.

12. Family of a child with autism • Your four-year-old has recently been diagnosed with autism. • He first started to show signs of the condition around the age of 18 months. • This was around the same time that he received the MMR vaccination. • You believe there is a link and contribute articles to websites that campaign for a limit to vaccinations due to claimed side-effects.

13. HPA • Your team are experts in infectious diseases at the Health Protection Agency. • Mumps is a particular problem with almost 8000 cases in 2009, up from a low of around 100 annually in the mid-90s. Around 10% of sufferers will develop meningitis. • You know that if less than 95% of the population is vaccinated there will be regular outbreaks in the population.