A GP practice group’s ‘irresponsible’ advert claiming it had a ‘100% safety record’ for vaccines during the recent measles epidemic has been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Six people – including a GP – complained as the Children’s Immunisation Centre’s website provided links to pages about autism while claiming that the single MMR jab is “100% safe” at their practices.
However, when the ASA looked into the case it was clear that many patients had minor and major complications as a result of receiving a vaccination.
Complications ranged from rash and high temperature to emergency hospital admission.
The ASA said the website’s advertisement of prescription-only medicines to the general public was a breach of the Committee of Advertising Practice code.
The ASA concluded that the advert must not appear again in its current form, and told the CIC not to promote prescription-only medicines. It also told the practice group to remove claims not supported by objective scientific evidence.
