§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will now publish in the Official Report the terms in which the then Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Metters, advised the Ministry of Defence of his concerns, and those of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, about combining the anthrax and pertussis vaccines in immunising troops deploying to the 1990–91 Gulf conflict. [HL40]
§ Lord BachI refer my noble friend to my Written Answer on 9 October(Official Report, cols. WA 67–WA 78), specifically, paragraphs 5 to 8 of Annex A reproduced therein. Dr Metter's fax to the MoD said:
We have previously discussed the anxieties my experts have about the simultaneous administration of anthrax and pertussis vaccine.177WAThere are no such studies in humans that I am aware of, but you may wish to see the enclosed fax which I have just received from [name omitted] of the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control which reports on animal studies they have carried out.I think you [sic] Medical department needs to be aware of these preliminary results".The "enclosed fax", a letter from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control to Dr Metters, said:
As you will know, we have recently carried out abnormal toxicity testing in laboratory animals on certain batches of B. anthracis and pertussis vaccine. When each of the two vaccines were tested alone they were not associated with an unusual degree of toxicity at single human dose level. However, when combined there was evidence of severe loss of condition and weight loss in animals.I would emphasise that these findings are preliminary but they do suggest that if used in man as a combined preparation, an enhanced degree of reactagenicity could occur. The users of these vaccines may wish to take these findings in [sic] consideration.The texts above were published by the MoD in the paper: Background to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to Protect British forces during the Gulf War dated October 1997, a copy of which is in the Library of the House. This paper is also available on the Internet at: http://www.mod.uk/issues/gulfwar/ info/medical/mcm.htm and in hard copy as set out in my Answer of 20 November 2003 (Official Report, col. WA 341).