Communicating with the public about smallpox vaccination in postwar Britain Gareth Millward garethmillwardlshtmacuk Centre for History in Public Health Improving health worldwide ID: 584544
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‘She might want to be a nurse or an air hostess’Communicating with the public about smallpox vaccination in post-war Britain
Gareth Millward – gareth.millward@lshtm.ac.uk – Centre for History in Public Health
Improving health worldwide
http:://history.lshtm.ac.ukSlide2
Smallpox vaccinationSmallpox 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.Slide3
I don’t think there is the slightest chance of my Baby coming into contact with it.
L.H.A.
SmallpoxPertussis
PolioDiph.
England & Wales
40
69
82
64
Isles of Scilly
100
59
6690Bradford1637045Oxford66889685Barnsley2826872Birmingham41648570West Bromwich7677755Worcestershire62788669Staffordshire18588353Warwickshire32787872
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 31
st
December 1961 Slide4
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 PortsmouthSlide5
Have you thought about the amount of travelling done nowadays, especially by air?Smallpox deaths from importation, 1935-1970
Source: Data taken from TNA: 154/404, Importations of Smallpox into England and Wales 1936-1970.Slide6
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 55/902Slide7
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).Slide8
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 55/902Slide9
When you are convinced…Smallpox “propaganda” reflected a number of concerns about British society in the 1950sPart of wider immunisation programme being constructed – yet also “out of time”
Shows that vaccination was not simply a “government” exercise – involved multiple agencies and partnersIntriguing because of dramatic irony – eradication
Poster, amended by a civil servant, 1971. TNA: MH 154/268