LIVE POLIO IRUS VACCINES

438
Efficacy-Field Evidence
Administration of Vaccine. All vaccine was
given under the supervision of physicians or
registered nurses in schools, clinics, churches,
places of employment, shopping centers, fairs,
or other places where eligible residents were
assembled or could be encouraged to congregate.
With good organization and prior completion
of the request form, as is possible in schools,
industry and other groups, very rapid administration
of the vaccine was possible. In one senior
high school a staff of six was able to complete
2500 vaccinations in thirty-five minutes. A preliminary
idea of the rate of feeding can be obtained
from the data contained in Table 3 which
indicates the number of completed forms returned
to the Health Department each week.
Significantly, more accurate data will be available
when all completed forms have been returned
and the actual week of feeding has been
tabulated. As of 1 June 1960, 411,279 completed
forms have been received. During the
first week of February, there was a "trial run"
involving 7,760 university students. Beginning
15 February, and during the following five weeks,
there was a rapid saturation of the school age
population. During the last week there was
some increase in the rate of administration of
vaccine and during this period the practicing
physicians responded to a request to return all
completed forms still in their possession.
It is of interest to know that the practicing
physicians supervised the administration of one
third of the doses of vaccine given; approximately
75,000 in their offices, 58,900 in industrial,
church, and other special groups, and
5,900 in private schools-a total of approximately
140,600 doses. The remaining doses,
approximately 270,600, were given under Health
Department supervision; 145,200 of these were
administered in schools to pupils and staff, and
59,400 doses to the general public in regular
and special Health Department clinics. Also
included in the above total were 18,700 doses
that were given by the mobile units of the local
chapters of the tuberculosis, cancer, and rheumatism
and arthritis groups. During the latter
weeks of the program, the Health Department
operated its own fleet of mobile units in areas
where the response to other health education
techniques had not reached expectations. The
47,300 doses dispensed from the tailgates of
stationwagons among the "hard to reach" segments
of our population, were particularly important,
for they included 14,000 pre-school
children.
TABLE 4. SALK STATUS OF POPULATION BASED
UPON CRUDE INTERVIEW SURVEY DATA
AGE GROUP
0-4 years
5-14 years
15-19 years
20-39 years
40 and over
PERCENTAGE WITH 3 OR
MORE INJECTIONS
56%
81%
86%
45%
16%
TABLE 5. SAMPLE OF POPULATION FOR POLIO-
VIRUS ANTIBODY DETERMINATION
AGE GROUP
1 year
1-4 years
5-14 years
15-19 years
20-39 years
40 and over
Total
NUMBER TO BE TESTED
3
82
565
86
245
305
1,286
Pre-Vaccination Survey. Immediately prior
to the immunization program, the immune status
of the entire population to poliovirus was determined
by a quota sampling method by both interview
and serologic techniques. The field work
for this combined survey was carried out by the
entire group of communicable disease investigators
of the various county health departments
throughout the state and with the consultative
services of the Statistical Section of the Communicable
Disease Center, U. S. Public Health
Service, and the Bureau of Business and Economic
Research of the University of Miami.
The random sample included 4,630 individuals
in 1,499 households for interviews and blood
specimens before and after the immunization
program from a 1,286 subsample. The data are
being tabulated and analyzed in terms of age,
sex, race, socio-economic status, prior polio