FEARS were growing last night of a significant increase in mumps in the region due to a desperate shortage of vaccine.

Many parents have signed their children up for single measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after fears the NHS's triple MMR jab could harm them.

But they have now been left unable to complete the course of injections as no-one in the UK is able to source the vaccine.

The delay was initially caused by restrictions by the Department of Health on importing large amounts of the drug, which is not licensed in the UK.

But tens of thousands of jabs were given to US soldiers as they headed off to the Gulf for the war in Iraq. British soldiers were given the triple MMR injections.

Additional problems were caused by a main supplier in Germany being forced to dispose of 250,000 doses of the mumps vaccine after it was found to be faulty.

The single immunisations are only available if parents pay privately and there is only one clinic in the Merseyside region which offers this service.

Direct Health 2000, based on Rodney Street in the city centre, says it has more than 1,000 local children registered with them who are waiting for the injection, with an additional 7,000 countrywide. Other clinics and those GPs who provide the single immunisations are in the same position.

Parents have turned against the triple jab amid fears it can cause autism, but NHS experts are adamant the triple vaccine is safe and are urging people to allow their children to have MMR rather than risk contracting the diseases.

Mumps used to be the biggest cause of viral meningitis in the country. It did not often prove fatal, but usually required hospitalisation before 1988 when the vaccine was introduced. Adult men contracting the disease could become infertile as a result, while it can cause deafness in children if viral meningitis is contracted.

A spokesman for Direct Health 2000 told the Daily Post: "There is no single mumps vaccine in the country and none coming in so this has led to a huge backlog.

"The Medicines Control Agency seemed to be making it very difficult to import so one of the ways we hoped to get round this was by becoming a licensed importer so we could import it ourselves which gives us a bit more option for suppliers.

"But then there were manufacturing problems and a big batch being made in Germany had to be scrapped. There are not that many suppliers, particularly if you are discerning as we are.

"However, every clinic is in the same situation now. The problems were exacerbated by the Gulf war because 45,000 US servicemen were given the single vaccine.

"Parents who have decided on the single vaccine are now in a very difficult position."