DIPHTHERIA IMMUNISATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 86, 30 September 1947, Page 5

DIPHTHERIA IMMUNISATION

NEW ZEALAND CAMPAIGN The co-operation of all parents is required for complete control of diphtheria in New Zealand, said the Minister of Health, Miss Howard, early last week praising parents’ response to the diphtheria immunisation campaign. There appeared to be some parents still in doubt about the value of the immunisation treatment, possibly as a result of uninformed propaganda and irresponsible criticism.

“Let me assure them that the treatment given in New Zealand to protect children from diphtheria is exactly the same as that given in Great Britain and other countries, where the disease is now under control,” said Miss Howard.

“To achieve that end in New Zealand, treatment is available from private practitioners under the Social Security scheme, and is provided free at district health offices, school clinics, or through the district nurses.”

Injections normally were well taken and left no harmful effects said Miss Howard. They were best given between the age of six months and one year, with a booster dose at school entrance age. In three wartime years, Britain immunised 4,000,000 children, and not one mishap was reported in that huge number. Moreover, the wartime incidence of diphtheria in Britain was halved as a direct result of planned immunisation, while in Eire, where no organised immunisation took place, the number of cases more than doubled.