HC Deb 23 October 1941 vol 374 cc1924-5W
Mr. Leach

asked the Minister of Health how many deaths of children under five years of age in England and Wales were assigned to smallpox in the years 1938, 1939 and 1940; and how many during the same period, in the same age group, were assigned to vaccinia or causes associated with vaccination?

Mr. E. Brown

There were no deaths of children under five attributable to smallpox in 1938, 1939 and 1940. Deaths of children under five assigned to vaccination numbered five in 1938, one in 1939 and six in 1940; but I am advised that this classification does not rule out the probability that such deaths may have had other contributory causes.