Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Brian Jenkins (Labour). It was answered on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Swine Influenza Vaccines

Question: Does my right hon. Friend agree with many in this House that "You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't," and that we must always err on the side of the safety-first approach of making sure we have sufficient vaccine, if we can possibly procure it, for our citizens to keep them safe?

Answer: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. Many people are being very wise after the event, but last April the situation appeared to everybody to be very different; we had a new virus spreading on a worldwide basis, and we had little information about it—about how quickly it would spread and its severity. In such circumstances, the only prudent course of action is to plan with safety first in mind, of course, but I am sure that when we reflect on these events, we will realise that there are things we might look at again, and ways we might further improve our pandemic planning in advance of any possible future pandemic. However, I think that, overall, the right decisions were taken, and that the NHS coped very well with a difficult situation.

Secondary information