London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Paddington 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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diphtheria.
13
Vaccination.—The Vaccination Officer has courteously supplied the usual returns of
vaccinations during 1910 (Final Return), and the first six months of 1911 (Provisional Return),
the figures from which are included in Table 11, which covers a complete decade, 1901-10. It
will be seen that the proportion of children remaining " unaccounted for" (included those covered
by "exemption certificates") continues to increase in an unsatisfactory manner. As vaccination
is intended to secure a population protected against smallpox, the appended statement showing
the proportion (per cent.) of children surviving their first birthdays is more instructive.
Percentage of children Averages,
surviving to age 1 year 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1901-5 1906-10
Protected 87.7 88.5 86.8 85.8 85.2 86.3 82.8 82.2 82.6 78.0 87.7 81.0
Unprotected 12.3 11.5 13.1 14.2 14.8 13.7 17.2 17.8 17.4 22.0 12.3 19.0
(including
"exempted" 1.1 0.6 1.0 0.7 1.3 1.3 3.4 7.0 8.2 13.3 0.9 9.7)
children
The vaccinated children formed 87.7 per cent, of the total survivors in 1901, that proportion
falling to 78.0 in 1910. Comparing the first five years (1901-5) with the second (1906-10), the
proportion of vaccinated decreased from 87.7 to 81 0 per cent. The proportion of children
covered by exemption certificates in the second period was ten times that in the first.
TABLE 11.
Vaccination Returns.
| Children Born. | SuccessfullyVaccinated. | Insusceptible of Vaccination. | Died Unvaccinated. | Per cent, of Births. Cols. 2, 8, & 4. | Vaccination Postponed. | Exempted under the Act. | Rest1 | Per cent, of Births, Cols. 6,7, & 8. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cols. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 1901 | 3,364 | 2,676 | 5 | 313 | 89.0 | 23 | 34 | 313 | 11.0 |
| 1902 | 3,262 | 2,629 | 12 | 291 | 89.8 | 35 | 19 | 276 | 10.1 |
| 1903 | 3,315 | 2,621 | 10 | 296 | 88.2 | 48 | 32 | 308 | 11.7 |
| 1904 | 3,311 | 2,578 | 8 | 307 | 87.4 | 52 | 22 | 344 | 12.6 |
| 1905 | 3,188 | 2,495 | 11 | 261 | 86.8 | 61 | 40 | 320 | 13.2 |
| 1906 | 3,174 | 2,545 | 9 | 224 | 87.5 | 36 | 41 | 319 | 12.5 |
| 1907 | 3,092 | 2,349 | 7 | 255 | 86.4 | 28 | 97 | 356 | 15.6 |
| 1908 | 3,098 | 2,346 | 8 | 244 | 83.8 | 28 | 201 | 271 | 16.1 |
| 1909 | 2,920 | 2,242 | 11 | 207 | 84.2 | 27 | 243 | 190 | 15.7 |
| 1910 | 2,916 | 2,093 | 6 | 232 | 79.9 | 26 | 356 | 203 | 20.1 |
| 1911† Jan.-June | 1,452 | 1,017 | 7 | 112 | 78.2 | 51 | 168 | 97 | 21.8 |
* Including " gone away," " false addresses," &c. t Provisional return only.
DIPHTHERIA.
(Including Membranous Croup.)
Last year 163 cases of "diphtheria" were reported and 5 of "membranous croup," giving
a total of 168 cases, as compared with 116 in 1910. The numbers of cases notified under each
designation during the past five years are given in Table 5. The distinction between diphtheria
and membranous croup is more or less arbitrary, and of recent years there has been a tendency
to make less use of the latter term in consequence of some difficulty in securing hospital
accommodation.* The morbidity rates for the past six years have been in 1906, 1.27;
1907, 1.ll; 1908, 1.02; 1909, 1.22; 1910, 0.81; and in 1911, 1.17 per 1,000 persons. Last year's
* The difficulty referred to was due to the inability of the Asylums Board to receive cases of membranous
croup except when they were described as of a diphtheritic nature. Now the Board admit cases without that
limitation.