[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Cockermouth U.D.C.
- Cockermouth (England). Urban District Council.
- Date:
- 1958
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Cockermouth U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![B.C.G. (Tuberculosis). Mantoux testing, Mass Miniature Radiography and B.C.G. vaccination was continued in 1958, the age group being those born in 1944. A table on the next iJage gives detailed figures. (Jn the 16U consents given, all but four were tested and 34 (21%) found to be positive reactors, i.e., to have been in contact with tuberculosis. The remaining negative reactors were given B.C.G. vaccination which wa.s successful in all cases. The figure of 21% for ])ositive reactors compares favourably with last year’s figure of 28% and with the average for the county as a whole. POLIOMYELITIS. Supplies of vaccine became plentiful during the year and all children up to and including those aged 15 who had requested vaccination completed a course of two injections. Vaccination was made available to everyone from 15 to 25 years of age and sessions were held at varying times such as lunch hour and after working hours in the evening. The figures in the table on next ])age show an interesting trend. They are low in the age group 0—1 year and increase slowly up to school age (5 years). This follows the pattern seen in smallpox, diphtheria and whooi)ing cough immunisation. It seems that l^arents are reluctant to have the baby and young infant disturbed by such i)rocedures, but accept when they are toddlers or school infants. The level of acceptance at ages 5 to 11 yeai's, i.e., primary and junior school, is good (92%), but from 11 upwarcls it falls off steadily. Is this because the older child has more say as to whether he is vaccinated or not, and frequently decides not? The position in the group 15 to 25 years is even worse, and the most pressing problem at one time during the year was how to prevent waste of a valuable vaccine obtained for this age grouiD, as each batch of vaccine has an expiry date. Happily at the time of writing this report (mid-1959) the posi- tion has changed for the better and all groups have I’esponded to publicity to such an extent that for a short while vaccine stocks were insufficient to meet the demand. Third injections (booster doses) are recommended not sooner than seven months after the second injection and several of these were carried out before the close of 1958.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29118384_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
