§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he is satisfied that the clinical judgment of doctors is adequate to safeguard children from unnecessary vaccine damage;
(2) under what circumstances the Joint Committee on Vaccination considers that children should not be vaccinated;
(3) what steps his Department have taken to ensure that all parents of young children are made aware of the view of the Joint Committee on Vaccination;
(4) if he will give details of the guidance on vaccination risk, and the publicity that has been given, to the medical profession either from his Department, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Inoculation, the Committee on Safety and Medicines, or from other bodies;
(5) if he is satisfied that doctors and area health authorities are given sufficient advice in the contra-indications for vaccinations;
(6) if he is satisfied that there are sufficient safeguards which prevent vaccination of children where there are contra-indications.
§ Dr. OwenI am sending my hon. Friend a copy of the Memorandum on Immunisation against Infectious Disease referred to in my reply to the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mr. Price) on 6th May 1974.—[Vol. 373, c.54.] This, together with letters which the Chief Medical Officer from time to time sends to doctors in the National Health Service, summarises the views of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on risks and contra-indications for particular vaccination procedures. I believe that this advice represents the best judgement that can be made in the light of present knowledge, but the situation is being kept 279W under careful study. The individual doctor will have to make a judgement in the light of knowledge of the individual child.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what steps his Department is taking to obtain further reliable information on the incidence of adverse reaction to vaccination;
(2) if he will detail in the Official Report how many people are engaged on current research schemes of vaccine damage; at which places the research is carried out; how long the research has been going on; what have been the new results, if any, in recent years; and which specific problems are being researched at the present time.
§ Dr. OwenMy Department is supporting a national hospital-based study of serious reactions to vaccines, under the direction of Professor D. L. Miller of the Department of Community Medicine, Middlesex Hospital Medical School. A study in general medical practice of neurological illnesses which might have been complications of vaccination is being made through the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys with the cooperation of the Royal College of General Practitioners. A study relating to vaccine damage is also in progress in the North West Thames Health Services region. I am not aware of any other current studies; or of new results from research in recent years.