A private clinic offering single vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella has reassured parents their children are being properly immunised.

Dozens of children were inoculated when they visited a recent vaccination session run by Healthchoice UK in Brighton.

The company has spoken out following revelations from the Department of Health that two private immunisation clinics in Sheffield and Hertfordshire failed to follow guidelines when delivering the separate single vaccinations.

The clinics had been preparing the vaccines in advance of sessions, which is in contravention of guidelines.

Health officials say children are now at risk of infection because the injections may not have been effective.

Healthchoice UK opened the first dedicated clinic in Sussex to offer single vaccinations last month and plans to hold more sessions in the future.

Company director Kathryn Durnford said: "I can assure people our vaccines are completely effective.

"We always store them correctly at the right temperature and will not prepare the vaccines for use beforehand.

"The vaccine is prepared at the time of the clinic and given to a child as soon as possible.

"We follow all the necessary guidelines all the time."

Mrs Durnford said the response to the company's first clinic by parents in Brighton and Hove and other parts of Sussex had been enormous.

She said: "Out of all the clinics we have organised, this one has had the biggest demand we have seen.

"It is clear many parents in this area know what they want and are not prepared to risk the MMR vaccine for their child. We are able to give them a choice.

"We are planning to hold a two-day session at a larger venue in the future."

Some parents are concerned about the single MMR vaccine following a report published in the Nineties suggesting a possible link with autism and Crohn's disease.

The Department of Health insists the vaccine is safe but people remain unconvinced and are choosing to pay privately for the separate single jabs instead.

Health officials say using separate injections means a child needs to be injected on several occasions over a long period of time instead of once, which makes them susceptible to infection.

The take-up rate for MMR vaccinations in Brighton and Hove is about 72 per cent, one of the lowest in the South-East.

At least 95 per cent of a local population needs to be vaccinated to prevent an epidemic.

For more details on immunisation sessions in Brighton, call 0870 4423993.