[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Weymouth & Melcombe Regis Borough.

  • Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Weymouth & Melcombe Regis Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/44 (page 14)
    Diphtheria Prophylaxis to the Town Council of which the following is an extract ’.r— “ The following statistics are submitted for the information of the Council and it is hoped that they will be given the widest publicity :— The provisional total of deaths from Diphtheria in England and Wales in 1948 was 150, compared with an average of about 2,800 deaths annually in the ten year period 1931-1940. The number of cases in 1948 (8,034) was also the lowest ever recorded, being about 47,000 below the average of 55,000 for the ten year period 1931-1940. The Minister states that the principal object of the immunisa¬ tion campaign is to secure the immunisation of at least 75 per cent, of all infants reaching the age of one year. The following local statistics are of interest :— (a) Number of live births during 1946 in the Borough was 681 (b) Number of children born in 1946 who were immunised during 1946 ... ... ... ... 38 Number of children born in 1946 who were immunised during 1947 ... ... ... ... 499 Number of children born in 1946 who were immunised during the period January to July 1948 ... 142 679 (c) Number of diphtheria cases in Weymouth—children 0-15 years—from 1942-1948 ... ... ... Nil In addition to the facilities provided at Welfare Centres, free immunisation is also available under the National Health Service through the family doctor/’ Although responsibility for diphtheria immunisation has now passed from the Town Council to the Dorset County Council as Local Health Authority, members of the Town Council still main¬ tain a keen interest in this important aspect of preventive medicine and they have every reason to be proud of the Borough’s freedom in recent years from this hitherto serious infectious disease. During the year, 594 children were immunised for the first time and 1,152 re-inforcing or “ booster” injections were given, the great majority of these in schools at periodic medical inspections.