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48
rank for grant under the Maternity and Child Welfare Regulations;
and (b) that when such sanction is received, the Medical Officer
of Health submit estimates of the cost to this Committee.
The Ministry of Health wrote in reply to the application
from the Council expressing appreciation of the fact that the
Council are considering the provision of facilities for carrying out
the Schick test and for the immunisation of the poorer inhabitants
of the Borough against diphtheria, but stating that as this, under
the existing law, is held to be outside the normal functions of a
Sanitary Authority, the Minister would be prepared to give his
formal sanction under Section 133 of the Public Health Act, 1875;
and, further, that no part of the expenditure incurred in connection
with the scheme would be eligible for grant under the Maternity
and Child Welfare Regulations.
The matter came before the Public Health Committee in
February, 1928, and the Committee instructed me to present a
report on the accidents which had occurred in Australia following
inoculation against diphtheria. My report was made to the Public
Health Committee in December, 1928, as follows:—
"A Commission which investigated the fatal accidents which followed
the use of this method in Australia found that the fatalities were due to
the growth of microbes in the material used for injection, no antiseptic
having been added to the mixture. Such accidents are guarded against
in England by the Therapeutic Substances Act, which lays down the
method of preparation of the material used for injection. No accident
has been reported in any part of the world from the use of the mixture
employed in England, although it has been used for several years on many
thousands of children. Fifteen local authorities in and around London
are now offering facilities for immunisation.
"I would call the Committee's attention to the remarks of the Chief
Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health in his last Annual Report, viz.,
that 'No local authority responsible for the health of children should be
satisfied that it has done its duty until every parent knows that his children
can be inoculated against Diphtheria with safety and with reasonable
certainty of complete protection. It is for the parent to decide whether
or not he will have his children immunised. It will be found, in times
of epidemic in particular, that most parents are only too glad if they have
taken advantage of the facilities offered. Wherever practicable,
arrangements should be made to provide inoculation free for those parents
who cannot afford to take their children to their own medical attendants.
This can be done at Child Welfare Centres, at special Clinics held for the
purpose, and in the elementary schools, particularly in infant
departments.