§ Mr. HobanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on charging students for a hepatitis B vaccination when it is a condition of university entry. [44656]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 19 March 2002j: Under the national health service general practitioners (GPs) are required to provide free of charge for their patients all necessary and appropriate medical services of the type usually provided by GPs. This may include immunisation against hepatitis B, if in the GP's clinical opinion, such a procedure is medically necessary. In determining medical necessity GPs may make reference to "Immunisation against Infectious Diseases"—the "Green Book". This lists one of the risk groups to whom hepatitis B should be offered as, "health care workers including students and trainees who have direct contact with patients' blood or blood stained body fluids or with patients' tissues".
If a GP thinks it is not medically necessary, then a charge can be made even if the vaccination is a requirement of employment or of university entry.
§ Dr. FoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the level of BCG and Tuberculin PPD vaccination stocks was on 31 March in each of the past five years. [56998]
§ Yvette CooperThe stock levels of licensed BCG vaccination and Tuberculin PPD on 31 March each year are shown in the table.
301W
Year BCG vaccine(number of doses) Tuberculin PPD(number of tests) 2002 2,364,650 530,575 2001 2,217,200 711,875 2000 1,195,650 1,117,275 1999 110,100 131,575 1998 5,093,750 412,375
§ Dr. Evan HarrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Health on what dates(a) tenders were sought and (b) contracts were awarded for supply of (i) BCG vaccines, (ii) Tuberculin PPD solutions and (iii) influenza vaccine in the last 12 months. [56656]
§ Yvette CooperNo tenders were sought and no contracts awarded in the last 12 months for BCG vaccine or Tuberculin PPD solutions.
For influenza vaccine, tenders were sought on 13 June 2001 and awards were made to four suppliers on 1 July 2001. The contract award notice appeared in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) on 7 August 2001.