§ Mr. Turner-Samuelsasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that the remuneration to general practitioners for the carrying out of the responsible duties and complicated arrangements required to collect, store, and administer the vaccine and keep the necessary records in connection with inoculation against poliomyelitis is unreasonably low, he will increase the present inclusive fee of 5s. for the two inoculations required in each case to a more reasonable figure.
§ Mr. VosperThe vaccination will be performed as part of the general practitioner's comprehensive medical care of his patients for which he receives remuneration from his local Executive Council; the additional 5s. fee is to be104W paid by the local health authority for the record of vaccination. This is the present fee for records of other forms of immunisation and was agreed between representatives of local authorities and of the medical profession.
§ Mr. Turner-Samuelsasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that, following recent publicity, a large demand has been made to general practitioners by parents for inoculation against poliomyelitis for their children, and although only a limited number of children have been selected for this treatment even they are unable w receive it due to the withholding or non-availability of the vaccine; and if he will make a statement on the progress of this scheme.
§ Mr. VosperA batch of vaccine expected in mid-January did not fully satisfy requirements of purity. One of the tests on a further batch is being repeated and if it is successful the vaccine will be issued to local health authorities in about ten days' time. In neither case has there been any suspicion of live poliomyelitis virus being present in the vaccine. When regular supplies are available the first step will be to complete the vaccination of nearly 1,500,000 children whose names were registered with local authorities last year. Plans for vaccinating further children will be announced in due course.