I congratulate Christopher Fraser on securing the debate on what is an important matter. I certainly undertake to answer any questions that I am unable to answer in the limited time I have available. I will endeavour to do as much as possible before the House rises. I am sure that he will understand that it might be difficult to meet his request, but I will get the answers to him as quickly as possible.

I agree with the hon. Gentleman about the need to reassure the general public. They are understandably concerned as cases of swine flu increase. I hope that he therefore welcomes the statement made today by the Secretary of State for Health, which dealt with a large number of the issues about which we have just heard. While recent weeks have seen a considerable acceleration in the rate of spread, it is important that I take the opportunity to stress that the basic nature of the virus has not changed. Swine flu has not become more dangerous. To give some perspective-I know that the hon. Gentleman agrees with me about the need to give perspective-as with seasonal flu, it remains a mild and self-limiting illness for the overwhelming majority of people, although it can be severe in a few cases. Of course, I again offer my condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones.

The basic hygiene advice to people is exactly the same today as it was some months ago, and it is worth reiterating. To help to limit the spread, people should sneeze into a tissue. They should dispose of it properly and wash their hands. To reduce the chances of catching the virus, people should wash their hands regularly. If they have flu-like symptoms, they should stay at home, check their symptoms on www.nhs.uk, or through the swine flu information line and then ring their doctor if necessary.

Soap and water is good enough, we believe. A leaflet has gone out to every household and information is available on the website. In areas where there has been a particular concentration of cases, extra and considerable efforts have been made in terms of communications. To answer the hon. Gentleman, hand gels are useful where it is not possible to get to a place to use soap and water but over and above that we regard that as a matter for individuals and not something that we are promoting.

I turn to the issue of NHS preparedness. Our health service has been preparing for a pandemic for many years, and the World Health Organisation has said that this country's preparations are among the best in the world. I summarise by saying that we prepare for the worst and we hope for the best. Our early efforts to contain swine flu by isolating cases, offering Tamiflu as a preventive method and shutting schools where necessary gave us a precious window of time to learn more about the virus, about which little was known, and to fine tune our preparations.

We stockpiled antivirals, so that we have enough to treat half the population, and will be increasing that to cover 80 per cent. in due course. We ordered more than 15 million additional courses of antibiotics to treat complications and they will be delivered over the coming months, as will the 226 million extra face masks and 34 million extra respirators that we have ordered to protect health and social care staff. We took major strides towards developing a vaccine, about which I will seek to give some reassurance.

The House will already know that the Department of Health has signed contracts with manufacturers to supply enough vaccine for the whole population. According to their delivery schedules, we should begin receiving supplies from August, with enough becoming available for at least 30 million people by the end of the year. Clearly we want the vaccine to be available as soon as possible but we cannot compromise on safety. I assure the House that we will take all necessary steps to ensure that the vaccine is appropriately tested.

It is interesting to note that, in preparing for a pandemic, appropriate trials to assess safety and the immune responses have been carried out on vaccines very similar to the swine flu vaccine. Those vaccines have been shown to have a good safety profile. Over 40,000 doses of the said vaccines, on which the swine flu vaccines are based, have been given without any safety concerns. There is no suggestion that the UK would use a vaccine without careful consideration of safety issues. We have one of the most successful immunisation programmes in the world and we intend to keep it that way. We are now planning the vaccination programme so we can start administering vaccines to priority groups including NHS and social care staff as soon as we get the green light to proceed, and we will continue to take the best independent scientific advice on all vaccination questions.

The hon. Gentleman asked how the decision on who gets the vaccine first will be made. As I have said, administering the vaccines will need to be prioritised, and we will make a decision when we know more about the risk profile. A decision on prioritisation of groups of the population will be taken on the basis of which groups are being most affected by the virus, when the vaccine arrives, and how best to protect the capacity of the national health service. Therefore, there are a range of factors to be taken into account.