§ Mr. Leachasked the Minister of Health how his medical officers were able to estimate the time of exposure to risk of diphtheria amongst immunised and non-immunised children, as stated in the Summary Report; and, if they received any data from medical officers of health on this point, whether he will publish it.
§ Mr. WillinkI regret that it is not possible to convey the explanation desired by my hon. Friend in the form of a brief reply, but I am arranging to send him a full explanatory note on the matter. The only statistics obtained from medical officers of health are those given in returns of the number of children immunised in each half-year. The aggregate figures so obtained are published in the Summary Reports of the Ministry.
§ Mr. Leachasked the Minister of Health how many of the 4,820,114 905W children who were under 15 years of age at the time of immunisation had passed the age of 15 years by 31st May, 1944, and, if his Department has no record of this figure, what percentage of these children was deducted to allow for the number who had passed the age of 15 years when an estimate of 56 per cent. of the population under 15 years of age as having been immunised at the end of 1943 was made.
§ Mr. WillinkThe figure requested by my hon. Friend is not available. But of the children immunised since 1940, when the campaign began, the proportion who have up to now passed the age of 15 is naturally small. In view of this, and also of the fact that the number of these children is estimated to be more than offset by the number immunised before 1940 and still under 15, no such deduction as my hon. Friend mentions is called for.