§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance has been issued to public health professionals in the event of a large scale smallpox outbreak. [33338]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 5 February 2002]: The Department issued guidance to all health authorities and regional directors of Public health on the procedures to be followed in the event of a deliberate release of smallpox and other biological agents on 17 October 2001. At the same time, guidance for medical and laboratory staff was issued by the Public Health Laboratory Service on 17 October 2001. This is available on the PHLS website: http://www.phls.co.uk/advice/smallpox guidelines.pdf
§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 22 November 2001,Official Report, column 410W, how many smallpox vaccine doses are held by his Department. [33337]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 5 February 2002]: It is not possible to expand upon the answer given on 22 November 2001, as details concerning quantities of vaccine could aid planning of a bioterrorist attack. A strategic stock of vaccine is held which could be rapidly deployed to contain an outbreak.
§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 22 November 2001,Official Report, column 410W, whether Britain will have a smallpox vaccine stockpile ensuring a dose for every citizen by January 2003. [33333]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 5 February 2002]It is not possible to expand upon the answer given on 22 November 2001, as details about vaccine supplies could aid planning of a bioterrorist attack. A strategic stock of smallpox vaccine is already held which could be deployed to contain an outbreak, and this is being kept under review together with the United Kingdom's future requirements for smallpox vaccine.
§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of the population which has some protective immunity to smallpox. [32973]
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 5 February 2002]Routine vaccination for smallpox stopped in the United Kingdom and in all countries by 1980 when eradication was declared by the Word Health Organisation. We now have a population which either has never been vaccinated or who were vaccinated 20 or more years ago and who have waning immunity.
A Departmental funded study by the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research has been looking at how best to estimate the protective immunity within the UK population, as part of a wider study on microbial risk assessment. Recent estimates put the level of immunity at about 18 per cent., though it must be stressed that this is only a crude estimate.
§ Mr. Robert JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his answer of 22 November 2001,Official Report, column 410W, how many smallpox vaccine doses would be required to contain a smallpox outbreak in the UK. [33332]
1048W
§ Mr. Hutton[holding answer 5 February 2002]: The number of smallpox vaccine doses depend on a number of factors including scale of release, number, time to disease recognition, location and site. Such factors and the need to consider different scenarios are integral to the Department's contingency planning.
The use of smallpox vaccine would depend upon the circumstances of the outbreak of the disease and whether or not it could be confined to a particular location.