§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many children were vaccinated against whooping cough in each year since 1974 and to date; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will launch a publicity campaign on whooping cough and the case for vaccination.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information requested is given in the table:
Children under age 16 completing primary courses of immunisation against whooping cough: England Year Number of children 1974 *428,300 1975 *247,900 1976 *240,600 1977 191,899 1978 250,250 1980 285,561 1981 320,496 1982 384,827 1983 405,744 1984 391,699 *Includes estimated numbers for one Area Health Authority. The Department has provided additional funding of £483,000 to the Health Education Council to allow it to co-ordinate a national campaign. The campaign was launched in September and will run for the expected period of the whooping cough epidemic.
§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many children have contracted whooping cough in each year since 1974 and to date.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe latest available figures on notifications of whooping cough are shown in the table.
548W
Corrected number of notifications of whooping cough in 0–14 age-group 1974–1985 England and Wales Year Number 1974 15,677 1975 8,514 1976 3,750
Year Number 1977 16,857 1978 62,881 1979 29,512 1980 20,301 1981 18,728 1982 63,093 1983 18,466 1984 5,263 1985* 15,261 * 1 January to 15 November (provisional).
§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the contraction rate of whooping cough.
§ Mr. WhitneyNotification rates for whooping cough for 1974–1984 are given in the table.
Corrected number of notifications of whooping cough per 100,000 population, 1974–1984, all ages
England and Wales
Year Rate 1974 32.8 1975 18.0 1976 7.9 1977 35.3 1978 133.4 1979 62.2 1980 42.6 1981 39.1 1982 132.7 1983 38.9 1984 11.1