• THE anti-vaccine letter (There is much evidence of the side effects of vaccination, April 18) is untruthful and potentially harmful. It is unfortunate you did not check its claims before publishing it.

As with other anti-vaccine ignoramuses, falsehoods are the basis of its argument. In fact in 1960 31 people died of measles and in 1961 there were 152 measles deaths.

Now the range is between zero and one person a year, thanks to vaccinations. When unvaccinated children die of measles, it is the fault of people like the writer and their false claims. It is encouraging to see that the writer has retired as a nurse.

* Official figures: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/measles-deaths-by-age-group-from-1980-to-2013-ons-data/measles-notifications-and-deaths-in-england-and-wales-1940-to-2013

JOHN WOOD
PhD DSc FMedSci FRS
Professor of Molecular Neurobiology
UCL Gower Street, WC1