Written question asked by Paul Burstow (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 19 April 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 May 2004. It was answered by Melanie Johnson (Labour) on Monday, 17 May 2004 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 number of teenagers in England who (a) are not innoculated against mumps and (b) have had only one of the two necessary doses.

Answer: Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of teenagers in England who (a) are not inoculated against mumps and (b) have had only one of the two necessary doses. [167428] Miss Melanie Johnson: The Department does not have data on the number of teenagers who either received only one dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine or no doses. Most older children and adolescents will naturally be immune from mumps infection. Seroprevalance data, this is data where antibody levels are measures in blood samples, suggests that around 20 per cent., may be unprotected against mumps.

Secondary information