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broadly speaking those up to forty years of age. The Committee's advice
is:— 1. Sabin vaccine may be used both safely and effectively for
primary vaccination. 2. Pending further study, Sabin vaccine should not
be used to complete a course of vaccination started with Salk vaccine.
3. So long as Salk vaccine is available, it should also be provided for
primary vaccination if the doctor prefers it. 4. The trivalent vaccine will
be used for routine immunisation. The course will comprise three doses
at intervals of four to eight weeks. The vaccine is likely to be given as
drops on a lump of sugar or in syrup in the case of babies.
That is the position of the use of Sabin's vaccine as a recommended
procedure for general immunisation. There is another use for it, and that
is to stem an outbreak. To be successful, it has to be used in the early days
of an outbreak and must be given to the entire population within a very
short space of time. The Ministry had advised local authorities that they
were holding a supply of this vaccine to be used to halt an outbreak which
had started. The responsibility for deciding whether the vaccine should be
used remained with the Ministry who would consult with the major
health authorities, not with the district councils. The first instance of the
use of this vaccine in this way in this country was in Hull. The strain used
was type II on the principle of blocking colonisation of the gut by the
epidemic type I strain. The first case was notified in Hull on the 4th
October; by October 17th there were forty-six cases. Arrangements for the
administration of the vaccine were started on Monday, October 23rd. By
the end of the week ninety-six per cent of the City's population had
received it. Further cases continued to occur but in very much smaller
numbers. By October 30th the case total was seventy-five. There were
eight in the next week and seven in the following. Arrangements were
then made to offer to people under forty years of age who had not
previously had Salk vaccine two more doses of oral vaccine made from
viruses type I and type III if they had had a dose of type II vaccine.
The arrangements for inoculating sections of the population with
killed vaccine continued to run smoothly, most of the work carried out
being the routine inoculation of babies.
The following is a summary of the work done during the year:-
3,692 children born in the years 1943-61 received two injections only,
3,364 three. Of the young persons born in the years 1933-42, the corresponding
numbers were 1,448 and 1,607; of those born before 1933 but
who had not passed their fortieth birthdays there were 3,973 and 3,966.
and of other persons 514 and 139. In all 9,627 persons received two injections
during the year and 9,076 three injections. 228 persons had received
only the one injection by the end of the year.
MEASLES
This is a complaint from which virtually everyone suffers from once
in his life time, but rarely more than once. Because in an outbreak nearly
all those who are susceptible are attacked, thereby becoming immune, it