§ Mrs. SpelmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when the supplies of diptheria-tetanus booster vaccine will return to the levels of 1997; and what percentage of five-year-olds were vaccinated for diptheria and tetanus immunisation in the last year for which figures are available. [118190]
§ Yvette CooperUnited Kingdom supplies of diphtheria-tetanus (DT) pre-school booster vaccine have increased year on year since 1996–97 reaching over 890,000 doses in 1998–99. Both manufacturers of the DT vaccine used in the United Kingdom's childhood immunisation programme experienced severe, but different, manufacturing problems during last year which resulted in temporary shortages of this vaccine. The Department has, from the beginning of this year, secured another source of supply for the vaccine and sufficient supplies are now available to allow the levels issued in the previous three years to be reached very shortly.
131WIn 1998–99, the latest year for which figures are available, 512,000 children in England aged under five received reinforcing doses of vaccine against diphtheria and tetanus. This represents about 81 per cent. of the target population of pre-school children for these vaccinations.