§ 59. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health to publish a list showing all local authorities in the country to whom information about the new polio vaccine has been given; how many children there are in each between the 6W ages of two and nine years; how many parents approached agreed to permit their children to be subjected to the operation; how many refused, or did not accept the invitation in spite of the extension time allowed; and the total percentage in each case.
§ Mr. TurtonInformation was given to all county councils and county borough councils. The number of parents who register their children for vaccination will not be known until later this month. I will let the hon. Member have this information when available, together with the estimated number of children in the relevant age groups in each area.
§ 60. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health, in view of the fact that deaths from poliomyelitis have dropped from 707 in 1947 to 269 in 1955 and only 134 in 1954 without any use of vaccine, why he is now urging all local authorities to do their utmost to see that the maximum use is made of all available supplies of the new vaccine as he has no knowledge of its ultimate effects on children.
§ Mr. TurtonThere is no evidence to support the suggestion that the dangers of poliomyelitis and of serious paralysis from that disease are declining. There is, however, good reason for believing that the new vaccine will give considerable protection. It is therefore my duty to offer vaccination to children whose parents wish them to be protected in this way.
§ 61. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health in view of the fact that the large majority of the parents of children have refused to participate in the new vaccine proposals against poliomyelitis, if he will allow any parents to withdraw their approval on any date before the actual operation takes place, even if already given in writing.
§ Mr. TurtonThe number of children registered for vaccination will not be known until later this month; the scheme is entirely voluntary and parents are at liberty to withdraw their consent at any time.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health in view of the fact that the operation by the new vaccine against polio subjects the child to a mild form of the disease and is therefore liable to be 7W infectious, if he will arrange to keep all children so operated upon segregated for the period of six weeks during which the effects of the vaccination are estimated to operate.
§ Mr. TurtonI am assured that vaccination does not subject a child to the disease in any form. Segregation is therefore unnecessary.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health to what extent alternative virus to that obtained from the kidneys of dead monkeys is being used in the proposed mass vaccination of children against poliomyelitis.
§ Mr. TurtonThe vaccines prepared by the two manufacturers in this country are prepared from virus grown on monkey kidney tissue and inactivated by formalin. No alternative vaccine is being offered under the National Health Service Act, 1946, during May and June, 1956.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health (1) in view of the fact that over 900 children who had received the Salk vaccine in the United States of America developed poliomyelitis and over 200 of these were paralytic, if he will invite all local authorities to have similar records kept of the effect of the new polio vaccine now being used in this country;
(2) in view of the fact that no guarantee can be given of prevention of poliomyelitis even after vaccination by the new vaccine and no information is available of its other effects, what compensation will be payable to children, or parents, if the child dies or is subject to other illness.
§ Mr. TurtonIt is claimed that the new vaccine will reduce the risk of a child catching paralytic poliomyelitis. However, as in the case of other immunisations, no absolute guarantee can be given and no question of compensation therefore arises. Records will be kept to assess the extent of the protection.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health, in view of the fact that children who have had their tonsils or adenoids removed or have received penicillin or have been inoculated by vaccine of any kind are more susceptible to poliomyelitis, if he will invite all local authorities to keep records revelant to these and similar facts.
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§ Mr. TurtonAs I am advised that such children are not more susceptible to poliomyelitis, except in an area where there is a serious outbreak of the disease, I am not asking local authorities to keep such special records.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health what are the safety tests applied to each batch of the new poliomyelitis vaccine before it is issued to local authorities.
§ Mr. TurtonThe following parallel tests are carried out by the manufacturers and by the Medical Research Council:
- (a) monkey safety tests carried out with samples from the final containers selected at random from each filling lot;
- (b) an additional safety test using a species of monkey different from that used in (a);
- (c) tests for the absence of agents pathogenic to man;
- (d) routine sterility tests.
In addition the manufacturers carry out tissue culture safety tests on individual strains and again on the final vaccine and provide reports on these tests to the Medical Research Council.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health how much is being paid to the manufacturers of the new vaccine against poliomyelitis for each dose supplied.
§ Mr. TurtonThe release of this information would not accord with normal practice.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health what evidence he has that the effect of the new vaccine in small children is the same as that on monkeys or other sub-human animals.
§ Mr. TurtonExperience in other countries where millions of children have been vaccinated bears this out.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health what is the number of children between the ages of two and ten years who have been reported as suffering from poliomyelitis during the last ten years for which figures are available; how many were of the paralytic type; and how many died in each year.
§ Mr. TurtonNumbers of notifications are not available for the age group requested. The figures in the table below relate to children aged one year and under ten years.
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POLIOMYELITIS—ENGLAND AND WALES, 1946–1955 CASES AND DEATHS: CHILDREN AGED ONE TO NINE YEARS Year Cases Deaths Total Paralytic 1946 315 Information not available 26 1947 3,696 179 1948 855 48 1949 3,184 196 1950 4,125 2,990 214 1951 1,281 785 67 1952 2,130 1,506 65 1953 2,298 1,527 108 1954 1,108 789 32 1955 3,453* 2,001* 55* * Provisional figures.
§ Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health for how long it is now believed that the new vaccine against poliomyelitis secures protection from this disease; and why it is necessary to subject each child to a further vaccination in three months' time.
§ Mr. TurtonThe duration of protection can only be assessed in the light of experience but the incidence of poliomyelitis among American children who were vaccinated with Salk vaccine in 1954 and 1955 continues lower than among unvaccinated children.
The second injection is desirable to increase the degree of immunity conferred by the first, it is intended to give it at an interval of not less than three weeks; where the first injection is given after 9th June, the second injection will be given in the Autumn.