HC Deb 16 April 2002 vol 383 c919W
Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 22 November 2001, to the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr. Jackson),Official Report, column 410W, how many smallpox vaccine doses would be required to contain a smallpox outbreak with a two-week time to disease recognition, in an area with a population density of (a) 100 persons per sq km, (b) 1,000 persons per sq km and (c) 10,000 persons per sq km. [44006]

Mr. Hutton

[holding answer 26 March 2002]: Because of the large number of variables involved in calculating possible smallpox transmission rates it is not possible to provide specific answers to the questions posed. These variables include, among others the nature of the release of the organism and the number of individuals initially infected as well as the effectiveness of public health interventions such as patient isolation and contact tracing.