§ Mr. JoplingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of children are immunised against diphtheria, whooping cough and measles in the South and East Cumbria health authorities' areas together with the corresponding averages for the Northern region, England, the United Kingdom as a whole and the World Health Organisation's target percentage.
§ Mr. DorrellProvisional figures for 1989–90 are as follows:
Diphtheria Whooping Cough Measles (MMR)1 South Cumbria DHA 96 85 93 East Cumbria DHA 93 83 90 Northern RHA 90 79 86 England 89 78 84 1 A combined vaccine against measles mumps and rubella (MMR) replaced measles-only vaccine from 1 October 1988. It is not possible to provide an average percentage for the United Kingdom as a whole because of differences in methods of collecting the figures. The World Health Organisation's target for its European region was 90 per cent. coverage by 1990. More recent estimates, by the COVER—Cover of Vaccination Evaluated Rapidly—programme, managed by the communicable disease surveillance centre, show that by February 1991 the percentages for England had reached 90 for diphtheria (and tetanus and polio), 89 for MMR and 85 for whooping cough.