Written question asked by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 January 2006. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Thursday, 12 January 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Smallpox Vaccination

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence she has collated on whether there is a relationship between smallpox vaccinations and ill health involving seizures.

Answer: Historical evidence of the possible adverse effects that can result from smallpox vaccination is summarised in Appendix 9 of the United Kingdom's ‘Smallpox Plan (Guidelines for Smallpox Response and Management in the Post-eradication Era)' published in December 2003.Recent evidence of adverse effects, including evidence of seizures, has been gathered from two studies of adverse effects in those people who received smallpox vaccination under government contingency planning arrangements in the United Kingdom and in the United States of America (USA). During the 2002–2004, the USA's smallpox vaccination programme, 665,000 people received smallpox vaccine and eight seizures were reported amongst those in receipt of vaccine. The full report of all adverse effects was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in December 2005.In the UK, in a study of 232 people vaccinated, there were no seizures reported. The full account of all side effects reported was published in the journal Vaccine in July 2005.

Secondary information