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Office; the Town Hall, Palmers Green; and the Central Clinic, Edmonton. If
requested, smallpox vaccine lymph is sent by post.
Vaccination of Staff
It is important to ensure that persons most liable to come into contact with an
undiagnosed case of smallpox and those required to deal with an outbreak should
maintain a high level of immunity. Included in this category are certain members of
the Health Department and their immediate families. The practice of offering and
encouraging vaccination annually was continued, and during the year 44 members
of the staff were vaccinated.
Certain categories of the Council's staff, e.g. labourers, gardeners, motor
mechanics and sewage and refuse disposal workers, because of the nature of their
work are particularly exposed to the risk of developing tetanus following injury—
even quite minor lacerations. The Council continued to offer vaccination against
tetanus to these groups and by the end of the year 31 staff had completed a course of
immunisation.
A widespread outbreak of influenza began to develop towards the end of the
year and certain categories of staff were offered vaccination. One hundred and
fifty-four persons accepted the offer and their subsequent health records appeared
to indicate that a significant degree of protection was given by vaccination.
International Certificates of Vaccination
Three forms of International Certificates of Vaccination have been prescribed,
namely, for smallpox, cholera and yellow fever.
Yellow fever vaccination must, for international and technical reasons, be carried
out at centres designated by the Government, and International Certificates of
Vaccination against yellow fever are supplied at those centres.
Vaccination against any disease other than yellow fever may be performed by a
person's own doctor. The International Certificate against smallpox and cholera must
be obtained by the traveller himself and taken to the doctor for completion. These
forms are usually obtainable, free of charge, from the company arranging the
traveller's transport, or otherwise from the Department of Health and Social Security.
If the vaccinator is not an authorised user of an approved stamp, the person
vaccinated must have the certificate stamped by the local authority in whose area
the vaccinator practises. As in previous years, thousands of International Certificates
were stamped in this department authenticating the signature of the vaccinator.
(See Statistical Tables 16, 17 and 18)
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