• SORRY to see reader Jane Dean is still confused about the benefits and supposed risks of vaccination, even though she was a nurse, (There is much evidence of the side effects of vaccination, April 18).

She is correct in saying there can be “serious side effects from vaccination” but these are rare and, as I said previously, this is like saying a few people are harmed by car seat belts, while ignoring the hundreds of lives they save.

So here are the facts again: Wikipedia tells me that in 1980 2.6 million people died of measles but, as vaccination spread around the world, by 1990 “only” 545,000 died; and by 2014 global vaccination programmes had reduced the number of deaths from measles to 73,000.

Her comment that vaccination was only introduced in 1968 merely confirms the value of vaccination: since then Public Health England estimates that 20 million measles cases and 4,500 deaths have been averted in the United Kingdom. Vaccination is essential for the safety of all our children, no ifs, no buts.

DAVID REED
Eton Avenue, NW3