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shown that many children have been immunised in other districts.
It is also probable that a number of children under five,
for whom no records are available, have been immunised
privately.
The following statistics refer to immunisation carried out
during the year :—
Number of children completing treatment during
the year (pre-school 485, school 109) 594
Number of children receiving re-inforcing doses 924
Total attendances at Clinic , 912
An extract, quoted below, from a recent circular of the
Ministry of Health will be of interest to members showing, as
it does, the rapid decline in the number of notifications and
deaths from diphtheria in England and Wales since the immunisation
campaign got under way in 1941.
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that every facility for
immunisation was available in this district in 1934.
"The provisional figure for deaths from diphtheria in 1947
was 245, compared with an average of about 2,800 deaths
annually in the ten-year period 1931-40. For the sixth successive
year therefore, the number of deaths was the lowest yet recorded

* Provisional.
The number of cases in 1947 is also the lowest ever recorded.
For the ten-year period 1931-40, the average number
of original notifications was about 55.300. The total for 1947
will therefore, be about 45,000 below that average. This decrease
has resulted in very substantial savings to public funds. In
addition, the strain on medical and nursing personnel has been
relieved; it is estimated that about 2,500 nurses are freed for
other work ”