§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will request all hospitals to provide information on the number of children they have seen who, on the same criteria used by Dr. J. Wilson in his 1974 report, may have suffered neurological damage as a result of vaccination, so as to obtain a further estimate of the incidence of vaccine damage.
§ Mr. Ennals,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 17th February 1977, Vol. 926, c. 307–10], gave the following information:
350WA further estimate of the frequency of the incidence of vaccine damage is being obtained by means of a national study based on the notification by hospital doctors of children aged over two months and under three years admitted under their care with encephalitis and other specified neurological disorders. The study is based on criteria agreed after consultation with the British Paediatric Association and neurologists. Retrospective studies can be expected to produce less reliable information than those in which full information can be obtained in a standard manner, from the start of the illness, in all patients.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that every patient is aware that they have a choice between the double and triple vaccine.
§ Mr. Ennals,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 17th February 1977, Vol. 926, c. 307–10], gave the following information:
The question of choosing between the diphtheria/tetanus and triple vaccine is a matter for discussion between doctor and parents, whether in clinics or general practice. It would be inappropriate for me to intervene to ensure that diphtheria/tetanus vaccine is offered in every case, but doctors have been urged to offer this vaccine where contra-indications or parental objections rule out whoopi006Eg-cough vaccine, as indicated in my reply on 2nd March.—[Vol. 927, c. 248.]