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under the age of 16 years completed the course of
treatment necessary for protection. A further 2,164
children were given 'boost' doses.
Diphtheria . Whooping Cough and Tetanus

Protection against tetanus is now being offered to
pupils in secondary schools as it was not in general
use when they were babies.
Smallpox
Despite the success with which recent outbreaks of
smallpox in this country have been controlled the
Ministry of Health recommends that children should
be vaccinated against smallpox before they reach the
age of three years. During the year primary vaccination
was done in 1,985 children under the age of 16
years and 50 were re-vaccinated. No complication
occurred in relation to these vaccinations.
Tuberculosis
Some 15 years ago an extensive trial and a five year
follow-up of the use of BCG vaccine against tuberculosis
was made by the Medical Research Council.
This trial showed that the incidence of pulmonary
tuberculosis in the inoculated was much less than
would have been expected from previous experience
of the disease. Since 1957 protection against tuberculosis
has been offered to secondary school pupils.
The BCG vaccine is also used by the Chest Clinics for
the protection of child contacts.
The usual practice is to do a skin test first and to
give BCG vaccine to those who do not react to the
test. School children showing a positive reaction are
referred to the Chest Clinic for a chest x-ray as a
positive reaction may be due to previous contact with
tuberculosis. The numbers tested and vaccinated
during the year are shown below—
1. Contacts at chest clinic
Number skin tested 236
Number found positive 11
Number found negative 225
Number vaccinated 225
2. School children and students
Number skin tested 1,292
Number found positive 405
Number found negative 822
Number vaccinated 822
Measles
The Borough participated in the trial of measles
vaccine organised by the Medical Research Council.
The trial was restricted to children between the ages
of 10 months and two years as the disease tends to be
more severe and the frequency of complications
greater in those of that age. Both live and killed
vaccines were used and the trial showed that the best
results were obtained when one injection of killed
vaccine was given first and followed by an injection
of live virus. During the year killed vaccine was given
to 373 children and of those live vaccine was given to
310. The trial has shown that the vaccine does protect
against measles but it is still not known how long the
protection lasts—no general scheme of measles
vaccination has been started but the vaccine is
available to any general practitioner desiring to use it.
General
Protection against smallpox, diphtheria, whooping
cough, tetanus and poliomyelitis can be obtained at
local authority clinics or given by general medical
practitioners. A fee is paid to general practitioners
for notification to the Medical Officer of Health of
vaccinations or immunisations carried out by them in
respect of children up to the age of 16. The local
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