§ 29. Mr. Mellishasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the more serious epidemics of influenza this winter, he will encourage the public to take all practical steps for self-protection, including oral vaccine courses.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI have no information that points to there being a need for reconsidering the arrangements already made or in train for vaccination against influenza.
§ Mr. MellishInfluenza has already taken a terrible toll in this country, and I understand that one newspaper, the Star, put to the right hon. and learned Gentleman an oral vaccine scheme, which his Ministry turned down because, of course, they lack imagination. Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman not aware that the Star has introduced it and that, in fact, it is proving a great success? Why does not the Ministry stop being so conservative and try to be a little imaginative? I do not mean "Conservative" in the right hon. and learned Gentleman's sense.
§ Mr. Walker-SmithI was not taking that as a criticism. The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that the scientific evidence in support of the efficacy of oral vaccines against influenza is, in fact, slender, and so far as the Star newspaper is concerned, the result of its test, though it provided some evidence, cannot be regarded as significant in the context of recommending this vaccine.