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tenance of a high degree of immunity among the child population is of
paramount importance and every opportunity is taken by the health staff
to get this message over to all parents. For full protection, the full course of
injections or oral doses must be completed and, in addition, booster or reinforcing
doses completed at the appropriate time. This exhortation of
the public must go on without stopping because it is an unfortunate fact
that if diseases disappear from the public image, interest tends to wane,
only to be revived with a panic-like effect when a case does actually appear
in the district. The personal day-to-day publicity practised by the staff
is supported by Health Education projects on Immunisation in the clinics
during the year and also periodically by general campaigns with help and
support from the Ministry of Health.
During the year, the children included and vaccinated in 1964 against
measles in the Medical Research Council's Vaccine Trials were followed
up, special attention being paid to any reactions noted as a result of inoculation.
In addition, the unvaccinated control group of children, together
with those whose consent forms were received too late for inclusion
in the previous arrangements, were offered vaccination against measles.
Apart from some modifications in the instructions regarding the timing
of administering doses of oral poliomyelitis vaccine, no major changes in
immunisation schedules were made during the year. The modifications
agreed by the Standing Medical Advisory Committee on Poliomyelitis
Vaccination were that:—
(a) the recommendation that an interval of three weeks be allowed after
a dose of oral vaccine before any other immunising procedure, should
now be cancelled;
(b) the simultaneous administration of oral poliomyelitis vaccine with
triple vaccine for primary immunisation or with diphtheria and
tetanus vaccine at school entry could now be recommended, and that
(c) there was now no need to delay tonsillectomy when this operation
was indicated, because of the season of the year or because of recent
administration of oral vaccine.