§ 9. Mr. Norman Baker (Lewes)If he will make a statement on the use of bovine materials in vaccines. [92592]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Yvette Cooper)No bovine material has ever been used as an active ingredient in vaccines. Some bovine material is used in the early stages of manufacture of some vaccines and as a medium for cell growth for some vaccines. Since 1993, all vaccines in use were manufactured without UK-sourced bovine material. In 1989, guidelines were issued by the Committee on the Safety of Medicines that advised manufacturing companies to switch to non-UK-sourced bovine material. No vaccines licensed since the guidelines were issued have contained UK-sourced bovine material. Vaccines already licensed in 1989 may have been using 247 UK-sourced bovine material in the manufacturing process, but by 1992 all manufacturers of existing vaccines had confirmed that they were sourcing bovine material from outside the UK.
§ Mr. BakerI am grateful for that full answer, but in parliamentary answers to me earlier this year the Government admitted that stockpiles of vaccines containing bovine material that may have come from BSE-infected cows were not recalled when such material was banned from the food chain, and nothing was done to prevent their use between 1989 and 1992 by the previous Tory Government. How many people have been injected with such vaccines, and what steps have the Government taken to monitor any long-term health consequences?
§ Yvette CooperI will write to the hon. Gentleman with the answer on the number of people who were vaccinated between 1989 and 1992. Responsibility for advising the Government on the licensing of vaccines rests with the Committee on the Safety of Medicines. In 1989, the risk from UK-sourced bovine material was considered to be "remote" and theoretical. The CSM's view at the time was that the risk to public health through the spread of serious infectious diseases was greater than the risk associated with the use of the UK-sourced bovine material. Therefore, in 1989, the decision was taken on the basis of that advice that the vaccine programme should not be stopped immediately.
§ Mrs. Caroline Spelman (Meriden)May I also welcome the Minister to the Front Bench? I also welcome the reassurances she has just given, which are good for public confidence in our immunisation programme. However, in view of the sharp fall in vaccinations for mumps, measles and rubella from the target figure of 95 to 87 per cent.—which places children at risk from a measles epidemic—will the Secretary of State lift the ban on single-dose vaccines and give parents back that choice?
§ Yvette CooperI thank the hon. Lady for her kind remarks. The single vaccines have not been withdrawn for reasons of cost or to deny parental choice, but on grounds of safety. The action is not a blanket ban and we have acted under the Medicines Act 1968, restricted by the Medicines Control Agency, on several grounds, including the principle that an unlicensed medicine should not be imported when a safe and effective licensed alternative is available. A growing body of evidence suggests that the single-dose mumps vaccine, which was being imported unlicensed, is not effective in protecting children. No evidence exists to demonstrate that the use of single vaccines is any safer than using MMR.