Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Vaccine Damage Payment Act 1979 to make people who have had adverse reactions to the Pandemrix vaccination eligible for the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme.

The Vaccine Damage Payment Act 1979 is based on diseases not specific vaccines.

A Vaccine Damage Payment can be considered for those who are severely disabled as a result of a vaccination against those diseases listed in the 1979 Act and those diseases that have been specified since 1979 by statutory instrument. There are no plans to change this.

The list of specified diseases covered by the Act includes Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) swine flu, where vaccination was administered from 10 October 2009 to 31 August 2010.