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The first was the period May-June, 1956. Prior to this the offer of registration had
been made to the parents of all children born in the years 1947 to 1954 inclusive. A
random sample of children of each age was selected from this group by the Ministry
of Health and given vaccine during this period. The experience of the inoculated
children during the following poliomyelitis epidemic, compared with the children who
were registered but not vaccinated showed that they had only about a fifth of the
poliomyelitis experienced by the un-inoculated children.* The British vaccine which
differed in certain respects from the American vaccine, was thus shown to be safe and
effective.
The second stage began with the resumption of vaccinations in November, 1956,
when further supplies were available for those registered children who had not been
inoculated in May and June. At this stage general practitioners were brought into the
scheme and parents were able to elect for their children to be inoculated by their family
doctors or at the Council's local clinics. In May 1957, the decision was taken to continue
inoculations right through the summer, and to extend the offer of vaccination to
children born in 1955 and 1956 and those born in the years 1947-54 who had not
previously registered.
The third stage began in November, 1957, when the decision was made to supplement
supplies of British vaccine by importing American and Canadian vaccine, and
to extend the offer to all children between the ages of six months and 15 years, to
expectant mothers, general practitioners and their families, ambulance personnel and
their families, and certain hospital staff and their families. This presented a most formidable
administrative problem, as parents had to be given the choice of having the inoculations
carried out by their family doctor or by the Council, and they were also given
the choice of having the British or American vaccine. This operation was in progress
at the end of 1957.
In all, by the end of 1957 the course of two injections had been given to 105,672
children in London. Just over twelve thousand of these were given in the months of
May and June, 1956. At the end of 1957 the supplies of North American vaccine had
not commenced to be distributed.
* Report—Brit. Med. J., 1957—1.1271.
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