A man whose brother died after contracting measles has had his son vaccinated with the controversial measles-mumps-rubella triple jab.

Alan Pilsworth says the furore surrounding it should not deter parents from protecting their children.

The number of children having the vaccination has dropped, with parents put off because of alleged links to autism.

Mr Pilsworth, 38, of Gloucester Road, Burgess Hill, had no qualms about having his one-year-old son, Curtis, vaccinated on Tuesday.

He said: "Why do people want to take the gamble of not having their children vaccinated?

"It's a social responsibility as well as a family one. It's very important to me that people get it done so no one has to suffer what my family did."

Mr Pilsworth's older brother Stephen died aged ten in 1966 as a result of contracting the disease before immunisation became widespread.

His brother appeared to recover from the attack but suffered complications from subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) or inflammation of the brain.

The effects of SSPE left Stephen paralysed and he sank into a coma.

He did not recover and died in hospital just days later.

Mr Pilsworth, who grew up in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire, said: "Stephen was a typical ten-year-old lad, very caring. My family was devastated.

"When you have something like that in the family it is better safe than sorry, even if there was a proven link to autism."

His two other children, Ayla, three, and Joanne, 14, have already had the MMR jab.

In Brighton and Hove, the number of children who have had the MMR jab has dropped to a dangerous level - just 76.8 per cent.

Other parts of East Sussex show about 81 per cent have had the jab, while in West Sussex the figure is closer to 87 per cent.