§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the recent work of his Department's vaccine fact-finding team with particular206W reference to the findings relating to the presence of squalene in blood samples provided by US and British veterans. [83015]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonThe MOD's Fact Finding Team within the Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Unit (GVIU) was established in September 1997 to look into the implementation in-theatre of the 1991 immunisation programme against biological warfare agents, with particular reference to the level of coverage and uptake of vaccine across the various units of the UK Armed Forces that participated in the Gulf conflict. This review is based on oral testimony and extant documentary evidence, with a view to making public as much information as possible. The team's fieldwork was completed last autumn and a paper based on their work, and on other contemporary material that has been located, is in the course of preparation. This will be published once it is completed, which is expected to be within the next three months.
This review is aimed at providing more information about how the immunisation programme was carried out in principle, not the compositions of the vaccines used, which have already been set out in the MOD paper "Background to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to Protect British Forces during the Gulf War (Operation GRANBY)".
§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence which vaccines were acquired from the USA for the use of British soldiers in the Gulf War; which vaccines were used; and which contained squalene. [83014]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonDetails of the Ministry of Defence's programme to immunise UK troops against the potential threat posed by Iraq's biological weapons during the Gulf conflict were published in October 1997, in the MOD paper "Background to the Use of Medical Countermeasures to Protect British Forces during the Gulf War (Operation GRANBY)". This describes in detail how a vaccine against plague was purchased from the US DoD for use by UK forces. None of the other vaccines used for this programme were acquired from the US. None of the vaccines used for this programme contained squalene. In addition, UK Service personnel would have received other immunisations against disease that potentially posed a public health threat. So far as has been ascertained, none of the latter vaccines were either acquired from the US or contained squalene.
§ Mr. SteinbergTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if(a) his Department, (b) the Defence and Evaluation Research Agency and (c) the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment produced vaccines or components of vaccines for use on Gulf War troops which contained squalene preparations. [83013]
§ Mr. Doug HendersonNo.