Hansard

I thank Nicola Sturgeon for securing the debate and Fraser Nelson of The Scotsman for his thorough investigation of the issue, which has raised awareness and has led to many parliamentary questions and perhaps even to this debate.

As I follow Lloyd Quinan in the debate, I must say that, having been the Health and Community Care Committee's reporter on MMR, I was frightened when I read some of the detailed research on the vaccines containing thimerosal. The comparisons with MMR were not very welcome.

I am joined by my colleague Jamie McGrigor, an expectant father whose child will be born any day now. He sits here looking for advice on vaccinations.

I fully support an immunisation policy that treats parents and patients with respect by giving them the fullest information and choice possible for each vaccine. Thimerosal has been used in vaccines since the 1930s. What major studies have been carried out to demonstrate proper safety limits for exposure to ethyl mercury in small infants, who have received 75 micrograms of ethyl mercury by the 16th week of their lives? As thimerosal was taken out of all child vaccines in the United States and Australia in 1999, its use in the United Kingdom is shocking. We need answers on why it remains in UK vaccines.

Since the topic was first raised, I have asked several questions and have been told in ministerial responses that no research links thimerosal to Alzheimer's, that the regulation and control of vaccines is a reserved matter and that thimerosal is being removed from vaccines as a precautionary measure. Against what is that a precaution? I was told that many vaccines contain thimerosal, that four out of seven flu vaccines contain thimerosal and that the Department of Health states that flu vaccines should not be given during pregnancy, although, in the same reply, I was told that the vaccine does not affect the foetus. If it does not affect the developing foetus, what does it affect?

A reply from the Minister for Health and Community Care said:

"It is anticipated that thiomersal-free vaccines will be considered for provision in the routine childhood immunisation programme after they have been licensed for use in the UK and have demonstrated that they are as effective in protecting children against the real risk presented by vaccine-preventable diseases".—[Official Report, Written Answers, 24 January 2003; p 2844.]

In another answer, the minister said:

"manufacturers are required to ensure that the replacement or elimination of thimerosal does not affect the safety or efficacy of the final product."—[Official Report, Written Answers, 13 November 2002; p 2231.]

That answer also said, "This may take time". That reply was received in November last year, yet I understand that, as Nicola Sturgeon has said, the current DTP vaccine stocks in Scotland include the mercury-free vaccine. In fact, I believe that, out of 110,000 units of the vaccine, 30,000 are a mercury-free vaccine called Infanrix—I hope that I have pronounced that correctly.

Surely that vaccine would not be in stock if it was not fully tested for safety and effectiveness, so why can parents not be given the choice of mercury-free vaccines when they clearly exist? I further understand that one in four Scottish doctors is choosing mercury-free vaccines, so why not give everyone the choice? Parents need information. They need to know what to ask before making that choice. Reports also state that the mercury-free vaccine is 10 times less likely to have side effects, and children are vaccinated at two, three and four months. Surely parents have a right to all that information.

Parents should also be told the efficacy ratio of the mercury and mercury-free DTP vaccines. The current information needs to be updated because, as other members have said, we are almost the last developed country in the world with mercury in the DTP vaccine. Or is it the case that the whole vaccine policy is based on cost? The current mercury vaccine made in France costs £10.17. The mercury-free vaccine made in the UK costs £19. In a devolved health care system in Scotland, surely we can at least tell parents the efficacy ratio of vaccines, which vaccines may trigger side effects, which vaccines contain mercury and what choice is available for mercury-free vaccines. I ask the minister to agree to give patients the information that they need to make an informed choice on the basis of efficacy and potential side effects.