Vaccines (Hansard, 29 October 2003)

§ Mr. Hancock
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what advice the Deputy Chief Medical Officer gave on administering pertussis vaccine together with anthrax vaccine to service personnel prior to the 1991 Gulf War. [134574]

§ Mr. Caplin
I refer the hon. Member to the Ministry of Defence paper: "Background to the use of Medical Countermeasures to Protect British Forces During the Gulf War (Operation GRANBY)" dated October 1997, a copy of which is in the Library of the House and available on the Internet at: http://www.mod.uk/issues/gulfwar/info/medical/mcm.htm, and to my noble Friend the Minister for Defence Procurement's written answer of 9 October 2003,Official Report, House of Lords, c. WA70.

§ Mr. Hancock
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which vaccines administered to Service personnel prior to the 1991 Gulf War were not licensed for use in the United Kingdom; and what reports he has received that vaccines were not given in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. [134575]

§ Mr. Caplin
I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

§ Mr. Hancock
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make it his policy to have a public inquiry into the use of vaccines by the Department prior to the 1991 Gulf war; and if he will make a statement. [134621]

§ Mr. Caplin
The Government are not convinced that such a public inquiry would help answer the basic question of why some Gulf veterans are ill. We have not ruled out the possibility that we may look at this again if circumstances were to change, but in the present circumstances, it is only through the programme of independent scientific and medical research initiated by the Government that we are ever likely to be able to establish the causes of Gulf veterans' illnesses.