§ Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the calf serum used in the preparation of the polio vaccine which has recently been withdrawn from use came from a "controlled veterinary herd"; if so, how many animals were in the herd at the time that the serum was taken; and when (if ever) any of those animals were diagnosed as having BSE. [HL4402]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)According to the information supplied by the company to the Medicines Control Agency, the foetal calf serum used in the manufacture of this stock was collected before 1984 and used in the manufacture of a component batch of polio vaccine in 1985. In 1985 there were no BSE-related controls in place. Medeva has no records of the herd from which the material came, and it is therefore not possible to examine whether there were any subsequent BSE-related issues associated with the source of this material. However, Medeva has confirmed that the serum was obtained from herds that would have been under veterinary supervision and compliant with requirements for human food consumption.
We have asked the Chief Medical Officer to review all the advice given to Ministers on vaccines in relation 139WA to Public Health and vCJD. This review will include the circumstances leading to the withdrawal of the Medeva manufactured oral polio vaccine and advice to Ministers on withdrawal or recall of vaccines more generally.
When the report of the CMO is available, I will respond to the specific points raised.