§ Mr. BerminghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what proposals her Department has further to promote the benefits of vaccination against each of the childhood killer diseases; and what initiatives exist better to target different groups of vaccine-refuser parents across the community.
§ Mr. SackvilleGeneral practitioners, clinical doctors and nurses all play a major part in explaining to parents why immunisation is important. I am pleased to say that the most recent estimates from the public health laboratory service's "COVER" programme show 95 per cent. coverage of children aged 18 months for diphtheria, tetanus and polio immunisations, 91 per cent. at the same age for whooping cough, and 92 per cent. at 24 months for measles, mumps and rubella. In the White Paper "Health of the Nation" we have set a national target of 95 per cent. coverage by 1995 for all those immunisations. East Anglia region has already achieved that target for all diseases, and Oxford, South Western and Wessex regions have done so for all except whooping cough. The Department works closely with the Health Education Authority in providing full information on immunisation for health professionals and parents, and is funding specific research aimed at ascertaining why a very small number of parents do not have their children immunised, with a view to answering their questions and convincing them of the benefits of immunisation. The findings of that research should be available in the spring of 1993.