[Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Abergavenny Borough.

  • Abergavenny (Wales). Borough Council.
Date:
1962
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962] / Medical Officer of Health, Abergavenny Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the opinion that routine vaccination should continue in early childhood, preferably in the second year of life. Unfortunately, people have exceedingly short memories and some 50% of parents with young unvaccinated children have already reverted to their come-day go-day attitude. In this country, the measures undertaken to control any outbreak of Small Pox, have in the main, been very successful, but outbreak control may not be as effective in an unvaccinated population as in one partly vaccinated. Shortly after the fear of Small Pox had faded into the darker recesses of people’s minds, there was an outbreak of Poliomyelitis in the Ebbw Vale and Abertillery districts. Once again emotions rose to fever-pitch. The careless and the negligent were loudest in their demands for immediate vaccination, this time against poliomyelitis. For several weeks special clinics were opened, in Abergavenny and elsewhere, during the day and well into the evening. At this time the vaccine was given by injection, using dead viruses, but soon afterwards an oral vaccine was made available. Use of the oral vaccine is now almost universal. It was first developed by Dr. Albert Sabin of Cincinnati University using live viruses which had been “tamed” and rendered harmless. A basic four-dose vaccination is offered. If only people would ensure that they and their children are adequately protected by vaccination, then in time this disease would be eliminated altogether. We have seen the dramatic fall in the incidence and mortality of Diphtheria in this country following the introduction of artificial immunisation on a large scale in the early nineteen forties. Previously, early diagnosis and administration of antitoxin, prompt notification and removal to hospital were the measures relied upon in the control of Diphtheria. These measures contributed towards a lowering of case-fatality but the incidence remained relatively higher before the days of artificial immunisation. Diphtheria is now a very rare disease, there are some fifteen years since the last case was notified in Abergavenny. But, who knows it may strike explosively and unexpectedly, if the level of immunity drops sufficiently.