§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice he has received from the congenital rubella surviellance programme about its estimate of the number of children handicapped by congenital rubella whom it failed to identify; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MoyleI accept that there may well be some under-reporting, but, according to the advice I have received, the number of cases not reported would not be large; the figure might be of the order of 40 a year. Equally, some of the cases initially reported as congenital rubella are subsequently not confirmed. The best available estimate is that the average annual figure of 82 reported from the surveillance programme for the six years since 1971 might become about 120.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice his Department gives women whose doctors refuse to vaccinate them against rubella other than on clinical grounds; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MoyleMy Department does not give advice in individual matters of clinical judgment. My hon. Friend will appreciate why a doctor would be likely144W to advise against vaccination in the case of a patient who was liable to conceive and who refused to consider using a reliable form of contraception for three months after vaccination if she were to be offered the latter.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the areas in which family planning clinics are giving advice about rubella vaccination.
§ Mr. MoyleI propose to seek information on this matter—which is not readily available at present—as part of our campaign against congenital rubella.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list the contra-indications to rubella vaccination other than pregnancy.
§ Mr. MoyleThe contra-indications are listed in the appendix to a letter sent to all general practitioners and others by the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nursing Officer on 31 March 1977. I am sending my hon. Friend a copy.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what advice he has received from the Central Health Services Council regarding a rubella vaccination campaign; what action he intends to take; on what date he intends to launch the campaign; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MoyleThe Central Health Services Council has accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation which is against a "crash" campaign but which suggests the intensification of the existing programme and certain additional measures. We intend to launch a considered campaign later in the year as soon as the necessary arrangements have been made.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what evidence exists to support the statement of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that a large scale rubella vaccination campaign might reveal adverse effects from the vaccine hitherto unrecorded; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MoyleThe Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has made no public pronouncement about the 145W danger of adverse effects, previously unrecorded, becoming apparent during a national vaccination crash campaign. But I understand that in 1976 in the United States a number of cases of neurological damage were unexpectedly recorded during the swine influenza national vaccination campaign, when previously no relationship had been thought to exist between the vaccine and such damage.