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29
C(3). Diphtheria Immunisation.
The Scheme for the immunisation of children against
Diphtheria was continued throughout the year as was also the
immunisation of children against Diphtheria and Whooping
Cough with a combined antigen. Immunisation facilities are
available at all sessions of the various clinics held in the town,
without previous appointment.
I am often asked questions regarding the efficacy or
otherwise of immunisation against diphtheria, and this year
made a special report to the Public Health Committee on the
subject.
Immunisation is a highly technical matter, but the contention
is that it renders inert the poisons (toxins) produced by
any germs that succeed in getting into the child, and so tides
over the immediate danger and gives the body time to manufacture
(anti-bacterial) neutralising substances also. The
following statistics may therefore be of interest.
From 1920 to 1941 the deaths from diphtheria in England
and Wales were never below 2,000 in any one year, but in 1942
they had dropped to 1,827, in 1943 to 1,370, and in 1944 to
under 1,000. It might be suggested of course, that this
reduction was not influenced by immunisation, but that the
disease is becoming less virulent in this country, and that this
drop in the number of deaths just happens to coincide with the
increased number of children who have been immunised in the
years 1942, 1943 and 1944 throughout the country.
it is pertinent therefore to investigate further and ascertain
what proportion of the deaths occurred in immunised and in
non-immunised persons.
In the first half of 1944 there were 16 deaths in immunised
children, and in the same period 368 deaths in non-immunised
children. As approximately half the child population in the
country has been immunised it follows that an immunised child
is 23 times less liable to die from diphtheria than a child who
has not been immunised.
Another point of considerable significance was illustrated
in the last annual report of the Ministry of Health, that while
during 1943 the mortality from diphtheria at all ages from
1—15 years—the age group in which immunisation has been
most complete—declined to the lowest level yet recorded, at all
other ages the mortality increased.