HC Deb 13 December 1985 vol 88 cc819-20W
Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services in the last four-year cycle, how many children entered hospital because of the severity of their whooping cough; and what was the estimated average annual cost of hospital treatment for these children.

Mr. Whitney

The estimated numbers for England are as follows, based on the hospital in-patient inquiry (a 10 per cent. sample of discharge records from National Health Service, non-psychiatric hospitals), a copy of which is in the Library:

Children under 15 with a Main Diagnosis of Whooping Cough
Year Number
1980 2,280
1981 2,580
1982 5,800
1983 2,550

Information on the cost of treatment is not held centrally.

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the estimated annual cost of the whooping cough immunisation programme and of the publicity campaign that supports it.

Mr. Whitney

Information on the cost of immunisation programmes is not held centrally. The current whooping cough publicity campaign has been funded by a special Government grant to the Health Education Council of £483,000, to which the council has added £100,000 from its own funds. Information is not held centrally on the cost of local campaigns mounted by individual health authorities.

Mr. Ashley

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give the death rate per hundred thousand and the number of deaths of children under one year old caused by whooping cough in the last four year period for which figures are available and for each preceding four year period as far back as 1955; and if he will give figures showing the average take up of whooping cough vaccination in each of the four year periods.

Mr. Whitney

The available information is shown in the table.

Whooping cough: Deaths and vaccinations in England and Wales
Period Deaths of children aged under 1 year* Death rate per 100,000 relevant population Average take up rate of vaccination† Percentages
1953–56 385 14.45 n/a
1957–60 128 4.42 n/a
1961–64 98 3.00 n/a
1965–68 76 2.28 77‡
1969–72 41 1.33 79
1973–76 26 1.03 63
1977–80 24 1.01 36
1981–84 17 0.68 55
* Cases where the certifier of death stated the underlying cause to be whooping cough.
† Percentage of children vaccinated by the end of the second year following their birth.
‡ 1966 to 1968. Age at immunisation is not available for earlier years.

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