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I had occasion to comment in the 1951 Report on the unduly high proportion
of Islington diphtheria cases in 1950 and 1951 in relation to the whole of London.
1952 has shown a dramatic change in the position for the whole Country, including,
fortunately, this Borough. It will be noted in the Table above that there were only
5 cases in the whole of London, and for the first time on record in the history of
the Borough there was not a single confirmed case of diphtheria during the year, and
of course, no death. In fact, the number of cases for the whole of England and
Wales in 1952 was less than occurred in Islington alone in the years immediately
prior to the war.
The first diphtheria immunisation Clinics under the control of the Borough
Council were begun in 1936. The number of children who attended at first was not
large, but within a few years many thousands of parents were persuaded of the
necessity for safeguarding their children against diphtheria, and the safety of the
procedure, and brought their children to the immunisation Clinics. A great stimulus
was given to immunisation in the Borough by the National Campaign against
diphtheria which the Ministry of Health sponsored in the early days of the war.
As the proportion of immunised children has grown, so has the incidence of
diphtheria fallen until the present happy position in 1952 has been reached. It can
now be said correctly, that diphtheria is a rare disease; it will only remain so if the
great majority of children continue to be immunised. It is too soon as yet to permit
relaxation in the immunisation campaign.