MORE children in the Lothians are being given the MMR vaccine - but rates are still failing to hit national targets.
Official figures for 2006 show that 93.1 per cent of two-year-olds were given the jab, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
The vaccination rate in the Lothians was above the Scottish average of 92.1 per cent, with a steady rise sin
ce 2003. But none of Scotland's health boards hit the national 95 per cent target in 2006.
Health chiefs today said the figures showed there was more confidence in the jab, after uptake levels began to fall away when a controversial study in the 1990s linked it to autism.
However, experts believe the parents of some children are still too frightened to have their children inoculated.
A spokeswoman for the British Medical Association said today: "We are seeing more confidence in the MMR vaccine, which is very welcome given the fact that the public health concerns were based on unproven research.
"It has taken a long time to get back that confidence. We are pleased that more people are coming forward, but we do still need more people to immunise their children. The vaccine is the safest way to protect from these potentially deadly viruses - the evidence is overwhelming that it is safe and effective."
The MMR vaccine was introduced in 1988, but concerns about the jab were triggered in 1998 following now-discredited claims by Dr Andrew Wakefield, who suggested it may be linked with autism and bowel problems.
In subsequent years, around ten per cent of children regularly did not complete their course of MMR vaccines in the Lothians.
But after a widespread public information offensive from health professionals vouching for its safety, uptake is now increasing again.
In the Lothians, the vaccination rate for two-year-olds has risen from 88.9 per cent in 2003, to 90.1 per cent in 2004 and 92.2 per cent in the financial year 2005/06.
Lorna Willocks, public health consultant with NHS Lothian, said: "We are pleased to see that the vast majority of parents in Lothian continue to recognise the importance of immunising their children against what can be very debilitating diseases with serious health implications.
"We are delighted to see that the hard work of staff is delivering very high rates of vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella and will be working very hard to ensure that this level of achievement continues to improve in the future."
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said:
"We will work with the NHS to ensure this trend continues and they move towards meeting our target of a 95 per cent uptake."
But Dr Nanette Milne MSP, the Tory health spokeswoman, called for single injections to be made available on the NHS.
"At current rates, this safety threshold will not be reached for a considerable time, and we must do all we can to ensure that as many children as possible are immunised to minimise the risk," she said.
"Scottish Conservatives have always believed that MMR is the most effective way to tackle measles, mumps and rubella. However, given the number of parents refusing to have their children vaccinated with MMR, and the worrying number choosing not to vaccinate their children at all, alternative action must be taken."
One of Scotland's biggest private clinics, GP Plus in Edinburgh, offers single injections for measles, mumps and rubella, where the price of a course of single vaccines has gone up by over 60 per cent in the past four years to £475.
A spokeswoman was today unable to disclose if the number of patients had risen or fallen.
The official NHS figures showed the target immunisation rate of 95 per cent was met for other diseases last year in the Lothians.
