§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have(a) died and (b) suffered serious handicap as a result of (i) whooping cough and (ii) meningitis in each of the last four years.
§ Mr. DorrellThe figures for deaths among children aged 0 to 14 years in England and Wales reported to the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys were as follows:
Year Whooping cough Meningococcal infection Meningococcal meningitis 1986 3 84 15 1987 4 95 17 1988 0 109 21 11989 1 117 25 1provisional. The figures for meningococcal meningitis are included within those for meningococcal infection.
The total notifications for the same period were:
202W
Year Whooping cough Meningococcal infection Meningococcal meningitis 1986 34,695 1,462 582 1987 14,405 1,717 744 1988 4,874 1,876 864 11989 11,066 1,776 758 1 provisional. It is not possible to say how many of these have led to serious handicap.
§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total of Government expenditure on(a) research, (b) promoting and (c) administering vaccines against (i) whooping cough and (ii) meningitis in each of the last four years.
§ Mr. DorrellThe Department has directly funded research as follows:
Meningitis Whooping cough £ £ 1986–87 16,600 28,000 1987–88 16,600 28,500 1988–89 27,200 5,200 1989–90 12,400 Nil The Medical Research Council, which is funded by the Department of Education and Science, has provided funds for research wholly or partly related to the two diseases as follows:
Meningitis Whooping cough £ £ 1985–86 27,000 67,000 1986–87 144,000 137,000 1987–88 216,000 194,000 1988–89 161,000 273,000 The figure for 1989–90 is not yet available. It is not possible to provide figures for promotion or administration relating specifically to whooping cough and meningitis vaccines.