§ Mr. A. Edwardsasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the assurance given on 16th May, 1939, that no pressure with regard to vaccination would be put on militiamen by medical officers, and to paragraph 81 of the regulations for militia notified in Army Orders for June, 1939, that vaccination will not normally be carried out for militiamen and no pressure brought to bear on them; and, as no cases of smallpox have been recorded amongst soldiers during this war, he will give orders that vaccination is only to be carried out at the request of individual militiamen?
§ Sir J. GriggVaccination and inoculation in the Army are not compulsory, and there is no distinction in this respect between men who originally joined the militia and others. A number of un-vaccinated soldiers in certain theatres of war have died from smallpox, and I do not therefore propose to issue instructions restricting vaccination.