§ The Countess of Marasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces were given smallpox vaccinations prior to and at the time of Operation Granby, and by whom was the vaccine manufactured. [HL838]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert)The UK Armed Forces ceased routine vaccination against smallpox in the early 1980s, following the World Health Assembly's ratification, in 1980, of an earlier declaration by the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication that the world was free of smallpox. It is quite possible, therefore, that some Service personnel who participated in Operation Granby could have been vaccinated against smallpox earlier in their careers. Vaccination data are not held centrally and details of how many had been so vaccinated could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Smallpox was not one of the routine vaccinations which were administered at the time of the Gulf conflict, nor did it form part of the Operation Granby anti-biological warfare agent immunisation programme.
The MoD is aware of one member of the Armed Forces who served in the Gulf conflict and who was vaccinated against smallpox in January 1991 by private arrangement.
The MoD is, however, also aware of one medical record which appears to show that a vaccination for smallpox was given to another Gulf veteran on 3 January 1991. The medical officer who apparently administered the vaccination has been contacted and shown a copy of this record. He has confirmed that the entry in the smallpox section of the medical record is in his handwriting; however, he has stated that he did not at any time during 1990 and 1991 give a smallpox vaccination to any members of the Armed Forces. This matter is being investigated further.
For reasons unrelated to the Gulf conflict, a very small number of UK Service personnel were immunised against smallpox in late 1990, using vaccine manufactured by Swiss Serum of Berne, Switzerland.