cuts were taken at any stage. By any criterion, it is an extremely good vaccine and much superior to BCG in giving protection against the tubercle bacillus.’
‘But?’ asked Steven.
Coates nodded. ‘And I admit it is a very big but, something went dreadfully wrong when the vaccine was handed over to the company who were contracted to prepare the injection vials.’
‘What kind of something?’
‘Somewhere along the line in the production process the vials were contaminated with a toxic agent, a poison that attacks human tissue cells. It’s that that’s been causing the trouble in a few cases. We believe that there were only traces of it present but obviously enough to cause illness in some of the children.’
‘So the children were poisoned, not infected?’ said Steven.
‘Yes.’
‘Where did this toxin come from?’ asked Macmillan.
‘We understand that Redmond Medical, the company tasked with preparing the vials, had been contracted to bottle several new compounds for another company who were looking for new anti-cancer agents. It seems likely that traces of one of these compounds found its way into the vials used for the Nichol vaccine which was the next job on their production schedule. The company still aren’t sure how it happened. They thought their cleaning and sterilisation procedures were foolproof. Needless to say, work at the plant has been suspended and vaccine production has been transferred to another company.’
‘One of the children who was given the vaccine was immunocompromised,’ said Steven. ‘He had a bone marrow transplant a year ago.’
At this, another man stood up and introduced himself as Dr John Leyton, the doctor who had administered the vaccine supplied by St Clair. ‘I’m aware of that,’ he confessed. ‘But as the Nichol vaccine is a non-live vaccine, there was no danger to the child. He may not have produced antibodies in response to the vaccine but there was no chance of him being infected by it.’
‘But he’s dead,’ said Steven.
‘Not because of the vaccine.’
‘It’s something we all regret, I’m sure,’ said the Home Secretary, a view echoed solemnly by the others.
‘But why should this child have been more susceptible to a poison than the others?’ asked Steven.
Leyton shrugged and said, ‘I’m afraid you have me there. Maybe just normal human variation. We all have different levels of susceptibility to a lot of things. It could be the same for toxins.’
‘Was it a case of corners being cut in the manufacturing process?’ asked Macmillan point blank. ‘Sloppy procedures?’
‘Absolutely not,’ countered Coates. ‘We’ve been over the firm’s practices with a fine-tooth comb. They couldn’t be faulted.’
‘But a poison still ended up in the vials,’ said Steven. ‘A poison that’s killed one child and looks like killing another soon.’
‘I’m afraid so,’ said Leyton. ‘And we all deeply regret that.’
‘I take it you’re still investigating what exactly happened?’ asked Macmillan.
‘We’re currently examining all the equipment used in the vial manufacturing process.’
‘So where does this leave us?’ said the Home Secretary. ‘Sci-Med has caught us — and by “us” I mean Her Majesty’s Government — in flagrante delicto, for this is something for which we must take collective responsibility. Although it was the fault of a few over-zealous individuals and a misunderstanding perhaps over how flexible the rules might be in the current climate, we are responsible for administering a new vaccine to one hundred and eight of our school children and, it has to be said, unwittingly putting their lives at risk. You don’t have to be a tabloid editor to see where this is going to end up should it become public knowledge.
‘Just in case there is any doubt,’ the Home Secretary continued, ‘the government will fall, the children’s parents will launch criminal and civil actions, the vaccines programme will grind to a halt and we will be left defenceless against anything the terrorists care to throw at us. They will be free to launch plague after plague until we succumb totally and our green and pleasant land becomes a barren desert.
‘Health and Safety officers, however, will be able to dance on our mass graves — once suitable safety barriers have been erected — from Land’s End to John o’Groats, comfortable in the knowledge that they stopped vaccine safety regulations being breached.
‘Food for thought, eh, John?’ said the Home Secretary to break the silence that ensued.
‘And if we do nothing?’ asked a sombre Macmillan, causing Steven’s heart to miss a beat.
‘I’ll be perfectly frank with you; nothing much will change. We must go on pressing for new vaccines and streamlining the testing process. We have to. Time is not on our side and letting Health and Safety decide whether we live or die is not an option. There may well be occasional victims but this is the way it has to be if our way of life is to survive.’
‘At least you’re honest,’ said Macmillan.
‘Can I ask what happens now to the Nichol vaccine?’ said Steven.
‘We see it as a perfectly good vaccine. It will go into production with a different manufacturing company.’
‘Before you’ve established the exact cause of the problem last time?’
‘We know what the problem was. Establishing at which point in the production process the contamination occurred is purely academic. The company won’t be used any more.’
Macmillan sensed that Steven was squaring up to argue so he interrupted. ‘What about the affected children?’ he asked.
‘We will award generous financial compensation to their parents under the guise of medical insurance covering the children while they were at camp.’
It was Steven’s turn to look down at the table.
SIXTEEN
‘What a mess,’ growled Macmillan when he and Steven got back to his office. He poured sherry into two glasses and handed one to Steven before settling in behind his desk.
‘Do we really believe it was down to a few ambitious civil servants and a misunderstanding over the rules?’ asked Steven.
Macmillan looked at him thoughtfully. ‘I think we have to, don’t you? The alternative that a British government presided over such a completely unlawful experiment is just too much to contemplate.’
‘It’s not without precedent for people in high places to let it be known that they are unhappy about certain situations and for more junior people to take the hint,’ said Steven.
‘So if it goes wrong, the powers that be can deny all knowledge of it,’ added Macmillan.
‘They do all the wrong and we end up with all the angst,’ said Steven.
‘It was certainly the time to play the collective responsibility card, I’ll grant you,’ said Macmillan ruefully. ‘One out, all out and it will all be Sci-Med’s fault, the fall of the government, a monumental scandal… the incoming government faced with an impossible situation… the country hopelessly vulnerable to biological attack. Ye gods, you couldn’t make it up.’
After a few moments of deep thought, Macmillan asked, ‘What are your feelings?’
‘The need for new vaccines has certainly put them between the proverbial rock and a hard place but occasionally, that can be more comfortable than it sounds. It can be used as an excuse for all sorts of suspect decisions and actions. The pendulum may have swung too far in the direction of health and safety legislation where vaccines are concerned — and it has — but actually there’s still something that worries me about the Nichol vaccine.’
‘What’s that?’
‘They’ve decided that there’s nothing wrong with it before establishing exactly how the problem arose last time. They’re using a presumption as a basis for conclusion — never a good move.’
‘They would argue that time is not on their side.’
