§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what vaccines are currently being produced at the Porton Down production unit; and what research is currently being carried out there for his Department;
(2) where the work currently being undertaken by his Department at Porton Down pathogen production unit will be carried out from 1 April
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinThe production unit of the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research currently manufactures anthrax vaccine under contract from the Department of Health and Social Security. No research is carried on at the unit. The unit is on loan from the Ministry of Defence under an agreement, which the two Departments are reviewing, that envisages its return on 31 March 1980. It is expected that by then there will be stocks of anthrax vaccine with a known storage life of about two years. The implications of the Public Health Laboratory Service Board's development plan for the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research, which includes a production unit, are being studied by the Department.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what vaccines will, or might in the event of an epidemic, need to be imported if his Department's work at the pathogen production unit at Porton Down ceases, or is curtailed; and what research work will stop or be curtailed.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinNone. There are ample stocks for epidemiological control398W of the vaccines either currently produced or intended to be produced at Porton Down. No research work will stop or be curtailed.