asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied that his publicity campaign has been successful in ensuring that by the time women reach child-bearing age individual proof of immunity from German measles has been obtained in a sufficiently high percentage of cases.

As the health circular issued at the time explained, the Department's campaign was intended to provide a boost to the vaccination programme for women of child-bearing age in support of health authorities' own efforts, which need to be sustained over a long period and include measures designed to increase uptake among schoolgirls. Even before the campaign was launched limited studies suggested that, as a result of the schoolgirl vaccination programme which has been operating since 1970, the percentage of young women with immunity is high and continuing to rise.