Written question asked by Robert Jackson (Conservative) on Wednesday, 30 January 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 6 February 2002. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Wednesday, 6 February 2002 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the population which has some protective immunity to smallpox. - (Holding answer 5 February 2002).

Answer: Mr. Robert Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the proportion of the population which has some protective immunity to smallpox. [32973] Mr. Hutton: [holding answer 5 February 2002]: Routine vaccination for smallpox stopped in the United Kingdom and in all countries by 1980 when eradication was declared by the Word Health Organisation. We now have a population which either has never been vaccinated or who were vaccinated 20 of more years ago and who have waning immunity. A Departmental funded study by the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research has been looking at how best to estimate the protective immunity within the UK population, as part of a wider study on microbial risk assessment. Recent estimates put the level of immunity at about 18 per cent., though it must be stressed that this is only a crude estimate.

Secondary information