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Among other points to which I should like to draw your
particular attention is the improved survival rate for premature
babies. Last year 24% failed to survive one month as compared
with 8% this year. Reference to the table on page 57 shows that
there has been no death from diphtheria for the past 5 years, and
for the first time on record there have been no cases. There has
been a fall, however, in the number of children immunised. The
number of immunisations in children under 5 years was 682 as
against 761 last year, and this would be a matter for serious concern
if it portended a diminished enthusiasm for immunisation.
It should be remembered, however, that there were 102 fewer
births in 1949 as compared with 1948 so that there was less
material available. Expressed as a percentage of the previous
year's births the 1949 figure of immunisations was 70% as against
69% this year.
It will be seen that there were 438 infants vaccinated. It
could be deduced from this figure that some 55 per cent or more
of infants are not vaccinated. Parents with memories of the old
cross hatch vaccination with often very large scars do not perhaps
realise that generally it is the aim of present day vaccination to
keep local reaction to a minimum, and with the recent anxiety in
a nearby coastal town fresh in their memories together with the
fact that re-vaccination in a child previously vaccinated in infancy
in the face of exposure to the disease is a much more comfortable
procedure than where they have never been vaccinated before. It
is necessary for me, in view of newspaper reports of deaths from
smallpox in the recent epidemic, to mention that this disease still
carries a distressing death risk. In the words of our late King
George V, "If preventable, why not prevent it ?".
I have endeavoured to pick out one or two of the salient
points from the text of the report for special mention. It now
only remains for me to express my appreciation for the continued
interest and encouragement that the Council takes in the work of
their Health Department, and to the Chairman and the Public
Health Committee — the mainspring of our Public Health
machinery.
I should like to take this opportunity also to express my
gratitude to the staff of my Department for their loyal support
and co-operation.
I am, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
A. WALLACE JOHNS,
Medical Officer of Health.
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