HC Deb 27 March 1907 vol 171 c1810
MR. LUPTON

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that Mable Ellen Wenham, of 14, St. Nicholas Lane, Sussex, born 5th June, 1906, was vaccinated in September, 1906, by Dr. Burbidge, public vaccinator, and died on the 19th March, 1907; that fourteen days after vaccination sores broke out under the ear and elsewhere; that the child was treated firstly by Dr. Vallance and secondly by the dispensary doctor, then taken to a hospital at Brighton, and finally sent home incurable; and that the child was perfectly healthy before vaccination; and if, in consequence of the number of deaths following vaccination, he will stop the issue of vaccine matter until some stuff, free from danger, has been invented.

MR. JOHN BURNS

My attention has been called to the case referred to and I am making some inquiry with regard to it. I could not undertake to stop the issue of glycerinated calf lymph, and I may remind my hon. friend that it is not necessarily the case that because a death follows vaccination it is therefore due to it.

MR. LUPTON

Is it not the fact that the medical officers of the Local Government Board are now making investigations with a view to finding a less injurious stuff than that now used? Why not wait until they have discovered it before issuing any more of this lymph to the public?

MR. JOHN BURNS

I have no such information as the hon. Member professes to have.