§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether there has been any change in(a) departmental policy and (b) the adjudicating doctor's attitude towards payments for damage from the whooping cough vaccine following the Loveday case.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardDepartmental policy towards vaccine damage payments has not changed since the Loveday case. It remains our intention to make payments under the vaccine damage payments scheme for people who show that they are severely disabled as a result of the effects of vaccination against certain diseases, including whooping cough. The Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979 requires that the question whether the severe disablement results from vaccination is to be decided on the balance of probability. Adjudicating doctors have to look at all the relevant evidence available to them when making this decision in individual cases. The Loveday judgment forms part of this evidence.