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Infective Diseases. 21
communicated with all the laundry proprietors in the district,
warning them of this danger, and advising them to urge all
members of their staffs to be vaccinated at once. Many
laundry employees were vaccinated as a result of this advice.
With a view to obtaining the earliest possible information
of cases of Small-pox, the Council decided, with the approval
of the Minister of Health, to make Chicken-pox a notifiable
disease for a period of three months. This became effective
from the 22nd May. Many of the cases of Chicken-pox notified
under this Order were visited by the medical staff of the
Department, but in no instance was a case of Small-pox brought
to light in this manner.
A poster was prepared stressing the importance of recent
vaccination, and this was exhibited in all public places in the
Borough.
In view of the large number of parents who, in recent
years, have omitted to have their children vaccinated, the
Council decided to write to all householders in the Borough
pointing out that cases of Small-pox were occurring, and urging
the importance of recent vaccination as a means of protection
against the disease. 94,471 of these letters were dispatched.
Over 13,000 vaccinations were performed by the public vaccinators
within a few weeks of the issue of this letter, and
many persons were also vaccinated by their own doctors. I
am convinced that the issue of this letter to householders had
a good effect, and that many people were vaccinated as a
result of it.
The Public Health Committee also decided to ask the
Licensed Houses in the Borough to display a small notice
advising vaccination.
When the epidemic was at its height in Streatham, I
wrote to the Ministers of the Churches in the neighbourhood
asking them to urge on their congregations the importance of
vaccination. The proprietors of three cinema theatres in the
affected area agreed to exhibit a short notice on their screens
to the same effect.