§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will list the number of whooping-cough cases since 1960, sub-dividing the total number into those for: (a) babies under one year, (b) children and (c) adults; and if he will give the number of fatalities, and the proportion of those catching the disease who had been immunised for each of the groups;
149W(2) if he will give the figures since 1960 for, (a) the annual number of whooping-cough immunisations, (b) the percentage of the appropriate age group vaccinated, and (c) the number of notified cases of the disease; and if he will express each of these as index numbers taking the figures for 1960 as 100.
§ Mr. EnnalsI am having the figures extracted and will publish them in theOfficial Report.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is the estimated risk of a child, not immunised, getting whooping-cough if: (a) 80 per cent., (b) 50 per cent. and (c) 20 per cent. of the population has been immunised; and to what extent the estimated risk is changed if the child is immunised;
(2) if he will list the minimum ages of babies at which his Department has recommended that the triple immunisation programme should commence, since 1960; and if he will give the reasons for the changes in the recommended minimum age;
(3) for which age range there is the greatest risk of complications arising from an attack of whooping-cough;
(4) what studies has he made of those areas abroad where the whooping-cough vaccine is no longer administered.
§ Mr. EnnalsThe greatest risk arises in small children, especially babies under six months. The first guidance issued centrally on the timing of whooping-cough vaccination was in 1957 when a first injection not later than three months was suggested. In 1961 alternative schedules of vaccination and immunisation were recommended, one of which commenced basic immunisation as early as one month. Further advice published in 1968 recommended that basic immunisation should commence from three to six months of age at the discretion of the individual doctors, and this is the current advice. The emphasis as to the timing of the start has varied in the light of expert advice.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation received and considered evidence from many countries before confirming their current recommendations. It is not possible to estimate precisely the protection given to the individual child by various levels of immunisation within the community or to quantify this precisely 150W although immunisation is known to confer substantial protection. The risk of infection will vary according to the prevalence of the disease in the community.
§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why he is unwilling or unable to answer the Questions of the hon. Member for Christchurch and Lymington, who asked him to name the manufacturers of whooping-cough vaccine administered under the NHS, and who asked him what discussions he has had with these drug companies about the incidence of brain-damage resulting from whooping-cough vaccination; and if he will now do so.
§ Mr. EnnalsWhooping-cough vaccine is supplied by Duncan Flockhart and Company Limited—manufacturers Evans Biologicals Limited and Glaxo Laboratories (NZ) Limited—The Lister Institute; and Wellcome Research Laboratories.
My Department has had no specific discussion with these companies on the issue of brain-damage to vaccinated children, but it liaises with these companies on the manufacture and use of whooping-cough vaccine.
I am seeing Sir Charles Stuart-Harris, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on Wednesday, and shortly thereafter I shall be making a full statement on vaccination to the House.
§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why he has not yet been willing or able to answer the Question from the hon. Member for Christchurch and Lymington, due for answer on 29th November 1975, as to whether the whooping-cough vaccine recently withdrawn in West Germany, is the same as the vaccine still being administered under the NHS.
§ Mr. EnnalsThe information sought from the West German authorities has only recently become available.
This shows that the federal authorities in West Germany have, since 1975, recommended that whooping-cough vaccination should be given during the first year of life to children at special risk from the disease, but that certain local authorities have ceased to recommend routine whooping-cough vaccination. It has not been withdrawn, and 151W no doctor in West Germany is prevented from giving vaccination where he considers it necessary.
Although the manufacturers are different, the vaccine used in West Germany, which has not been changed during the past year, is similar to that used in this country, namely, "adsorbed" vaccine, which gives rise to fewer reactions than plain vaccine.