§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many children were vaccinated in the MRC trials on whooping-cough vaccine; how many were subjected to follow-up examinations within two or three days of the vaccination; and how many children were found to have suffered adverse reactions during the trials;
(2) if she is satisfied that the vaccine trials were carried out satisfactorily; and if she will make a statement;
(3) on whose authority the records of the MRC's trials into the whooping-cough vaccine were destroyed; and when, and why, they were destroyed.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsThe trials in question were carried out in the period 1946–54. On the basis of the results obtained, the then Ministry of Health launched a national campaign for immunisation against whooping-cough. I understand that some 49,000 children were involved, that they were all kept under continuing and regular observation after74W inoculation, that a representative 20 per cent. sample was followed up in more detail to achieve a more precisely quantified estimate of any reactions to inoculation, and that no evidence was found to suggest anything but transitory reactions.
I am informed that it is customary to destroy the original medical records of such trials when they have not been used for a number of years. Detailed reports of the trials were published in the scientific Press.