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
London County Council 1955
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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parents, undoubtedly due to their familiarity with whooping cough and to their
appreciation of its potential danger. The number of children immunised against
whooping cough fell as compared with 1954 but here, as with diphtheria immunisation,
the effect of the withdrawal of facilities in the Council's immunisation clinics during
the poliomyelitis epidemic is shown significantly in the table below as contrasted with
the number of children immunised in both years by general practitioners where a
slight increase is shown for 1955.
The following figures show the number of children immunised against whooping cough in the past four years, including those receiving the combined antigen which protected them against both diphtheria and whooping cough.
| 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of children immunised against whooping cough : | ||||
| 19,447 | 19,292 | 31,985 | ||
| (b) by general practitioners | 2,786 | 3,427 | 5,449 | 5,574 |
| Total | 22,233 | 22,719 | 37,434 | 27,941 |
Facilities provided for the vaccination of infants against smallpox are similar to those for diphtheria immunisation. The percentage of vaccinations of children under one year of age compared with the annual number of live births has increased steadily over the past seven years :
| Number vaccinated | Percentage of annual live births | |
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | 13,896 | 25 |
| 1950 | 16,836 | 32 |
| 1951 | 19,700 | 38 |
| 1952 | 23,106 | 45 |
| 1953 | 24,434 | 48 |
| 1954 | 24,995 | 49 |
| 1955 | 24,649 | 50 (based on provisional birth figure) |
There were no cases of generalised vaccinia or of post-vaccinal encephalomyelitis
during the year.
Re-vaccination of older children is undertaken under the Council s scheme. The numbers of school children re-vaccinated during the past three years are shown below :
| 1953 | 1,501 |
| 1954 | 2,944 |
| 1955 | 2,923 |
7,346 vaccinations and 5,799 re-vaccinations were carried out by general practitioners
during the year as compared with figures of 7,914 and 5,707 in the previous year.
As a consequence of the Ministry of Health circular 6/55 on measures advocated
to stimulate routine infant vaccination and the re-vaccination of school children and
certain adults, the co-operation of general practitioners is being sought, through the
London Executive Council, in displaying in their surgeries posters advising mothers
to have their children vaccinated against smallpox.
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