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In November the special immunisation and vaccination sessions held at the various
child welfare clinics were discontinued, and the immunisation of infants and pre-school
children concentrated in afternoon sessions held once weekly at Balaam Street and West
Ham Lane Child Welfare Clinics. Each clinic covered half the Borough apart from the
Silvertown area where both vaccination and immunisation continued to be carried out
during the course of the ordinary child welfare clinic sessions.
A letter is now sent to the parent of every young child in the Borough when it
reaches the age of six months. In it, the need for immunisation is stressed, the choice
of family doctor or clinic is made clear and a suitable appointment given in case the
clinic should be chosen.
VACCINATION. Following the reorganisation of the immunisation sessions, arrangements
were made for vaccinations to be carried out by the Medical Officer at any of the
ordinary child welfare sessions to meet the mother's convenience. It is hoped that this
revised arrangement, in conjunction with the vaccinations performed by general practitioners,
will help to raise the present low level of infant vaccination in future years.
The following table shows the number of persons vaccinated during the year:-

Of these vaccinations, 179 were performed by general practitioners and 182 by the
medical staff of the local authority.
No complications from vaccination were reported during the year.
Forty-nine members of the staff of the department whose duties might be liable to
bring them into contact with smallpox were vaccinated or re-vaccinated during the year.
IMMUNISATION. The changes in the organisation of this service have already been
mentioned (see Page 53. The arrangements for 1mmunisation of school children were not
affected by these changes, but were,of course, subject to the general suspension during the
"poliomylitis season". For the remainder of the year, regular visits were paid to the schools
in the Borough in order to immunise those children who had not previously been done and to
give reinforcing doses to children already immunised. Sessions were also held at school
clinics to provide for children not covered by the school visits".
As in previous years a combined diphtheria-pertussis prophylactic was available
for the concurrent immunisation of young children against diphtheria and whooping cough.
For others, plain diphtheria prophylactic (A.P.T. or T.A.F. according to the needs of the
case) was used or, occasionally, plain pertussis antigen for whooping cough immunisation.
All these prophylactic materials were issued on request to general practitioners wishing to
immunise their own patients.
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