Transcript War and Health

‘She might want to be a
nurse or an air hostess’
Communicating with the public about smallpox vaccination
in post-war Britain
Gareth Millward – [email protected] – Centre for History in Public Health
Improving health worldwide
http:://history.lshtm.ac.uk
Smallpox vaccination
• Smallpox ceased to be
endemic in the 1930s.
• Vaccination made mandatory
in 1873; but conscientious
objection introduced 1898;
compulsion formally ended
1948.
• Low vaccination rates
combined with new forms of
immunisation monitoring and
fear over mass movement.
TNA: MH 154/62, Fig II, “The ‘multiple pressure’ method of vaccination” from Ministry of
Health, Memorandum on Vaccination Against Smallpox (London : HMSO, 1962), 6.
I don’t think there is the slightest chance
of my Baby coming into contact with it.
L.H.A.
Smallpox Pertussis
Polio
Diph.
England & Wales
40
69
82
64
Isles of Scilly
100
59
66
90
Bradford
1
63
70
45
Oxford
66
88
96
85
Barnsley
2
82
68
72
Birmingham
41
64
85
70
West Bromwich
7
67
77
55
Worcestershire
62
78
86
69
Staffordshire
18
58
83
53
Warwickshire
32
78
78
72
Smallpox vaccinations of children under 1 year old; Polio under the age of 19; Diphtheria
under 5 years old. Source: TNA: MH 134/156, Immunisation and Vaccination Statistics as at
31st December 1961
1964 smallpox
vaccination
rates by local
authority area,
England &
Wales
Vaccination data source: MH 154/61,
Immunisation and Vaccination Statistics
as at 31st December, 1964.
Geographical data: This work is based on
data provided through
www.VisionofBritain.org.uk and uses
historical material which is copyright of
the Great Britain Historical GIS Project
and the University of Portsmouth
Have you thought about the amount of
travelling done nowadays, especially by
air?
Smallpox deaths from importation, 1935-1970
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Deaths (foreign cases)
Deaths (indigenous cases)
Source: Data taken from TNA: 154/404, Importations of Smallpox into England and Wales
1936-1970.
Well, that’s true, but I don’t
want my baby hurt…
Posters produced by the Central Office of Information for the Ministry of Health, 1956.
TNA: MH 55/902
My husband says that some of
the men he joined up with…
“Primary vaccination at school age or in adult
life, especially when done urgently in the
face of an emergency, has many
disadvantages for the individual. Whatever
the site or technique used a certain amount
of local reaction is unavoidable, and physical
activity at work or play is likely to increase
the severity of this local reaction, as well as
to predispose in a small but appreciable
measure to serious complications such as
septicaemia or encephalomyelitis.”
Poster produced by the National Baby Welfare
Council, c. 1956. TNA: MH 55/902.
Text: extract from TNA: MH 55/902, ET
Conybeare, ‘Urgent Immunisation’, The
Practitioner (September 1951).
I don’t want her marked. Look at
the ugly scars on my arm!
TO ALL THOUGHTFUL MOTHERS.
Isn't it curious how many Nursery Rhymes are
founded on fact.
WHY were Milkmaids famed for being pretty?
The answer is that milkmaids got cowpox, a
natural form of vaccination which saved them
from the ravages of smallpox and ugly
disfigurement.
WHY NOT give your child the protection of
vaccination?
Have baby vaccinated at the time of your
"check-up" visit after your confinement!
P.S. It only takes a few minutes, and is best
done in infancy.
Poster produced by Norfolk County Council. In TNA: MH
55/902
When you are
convinced…
• Smallpox “propaganda” reflected a
number of concerns about British
society in the 1950s
• Part of wider immunisation programme
being constructed – yet also “out of
time”
• Shows that vaccination was not simply a
“government” exercise – involved
multiple agencies and partners
• Intriguing because of dramatic irony –
eradication
Poster, amended by a civil servant,
1971. TNA: MH 154/268