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89
The total of 6,917 is, of course, very much increased over that
of former years because of the notification of a case of smallpox in
July. During the period 6th to 10th July inclusive, 1,403 vaccinations
were done at special sessions at the Town Hall, 130 at welfare
centres, and 2,466 tubes of lymph were issued to family doctors.
The "Vaccination acceptance rate," i.e., the percentage of
primary vaccinations under the age of one year relative to the number
of live births for the year 1957 was 56 per cent. (The rate for
England and Wales for 1956 was 38.4 per cent.)
It is often stated that the abolition of compulsory vaccination
by the National Health Service Act, 1946, has had an adverse effect
on infant vaccination. The percentage of such vaccinations has
been summarised back to the year 1930 and the position is as
follows:—

The highest and lowest acceptance rates of infant vaccinations
in the pre-war period were 21.8 and 12.1 respectively in spite of
268 cases of variola minor during the years 1930-1934. During
the war period these rates were very similar at 24.2 and 12.3
respectively.
During the post-war period, there was an abnormally high
acceptance rate in 1947, i.e., nearly 55% probably due to the demobilisation
of many fathers who were convinced of the preventive
value of vaccination and advised their wives accordingly. The
following year the rate fell sharply to 20.8 with the operation of
the National Health Service Act and the end of compulsory
vaccination. It fell again in 1949, but since then varied between
23% and 37% except for a great improvement to 49% during
1956 and following from the propaganda carried out by the s'.aff
of the Department. In 1957 the rate rose to 56%.