PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

‘it has proved difficult to get much response from pre-school children in rural areas
for a variety of reasons’. 56 Even by the late 1930s acceptance of diphtheria
immunisation by parents was still problematic. Figures for the campaign in the South
Auckland Health District demonstrate this. Of 17,531 schoolchildren, 9,251 obtained
parental consent, just over half (52.7 percent). Preschool figures were much lower;
only 783 children were brought by parents and of these only 288 completed the
course. 57 It was found that ‘it was difficult to persuade mothers of toddlers to continue
for three injections’ and most parents clearly preferred not to have their preschool
children immunised at all. 58 Turbott commented that he hoped the campaign would
‘help popularize a process still sceptically regarded or neglected by parents of almost
half the school-children and the majority of the pre-school children of this health
district’. 59 As can be seen, even by the late 1930s a large number of parents were still
hesitant to accept immunisation for their school-aged children, and especially for their
toddlers, except in epidemic conditions.
Nevertheless, both the immunisation schemes initiated by Turbott achieved a
reduction in the incidence of diphtheria. In the East Cape, where the programme was
continued by Turbott’s successor, there were only 15 cases of diphtheria in 1936, 2.45
per 10,000 population. 60 By 1939, South Auckland Health District boasted similar
figures, with only 35 cases of diphtheria, 2.53 per 10,000 of population. 61 The case
rate for South Auckland per 1,000 school children in 1939 was 0.29 in those
immunised as opposed to 1.8 in those unimmunised, ‘justifying the continuance of
artificial immunity work throughout the district’ and demonstrating that persistence
with proactive schemes did work. 62
It was not until the late 1930s that other health districts also commenced diphtheria
immunisation campaigns, although on a much smaller scale. The Medical Officer for
56
H. B. Turbott, H. Deem, ‘Preliminary Report on a Diphtheria Immunization Campaign, South
Auckland Health District’ Appendix C, AJHR, 1938, H-31, p.96.
57
ibid., p.98.
58
H. Deem, H. B. Turbott, ‘Diphtheria Immunization Campaign in South Auckland Health District,
New Zealand, 1937-1938’, Appendix C, AJHR, 1939, H-31, p.114.
59
ibid. Of the schoolchildren who received immunisation only 4,357 completed the full three dose
course.
60
AJHR, 1937-8, H-31, p.2.
61
H. B. Turbott, ‘The Control of Diphtheria in a Rural Health District’ Appendix A, AJHR, 1940, H-
31, p.50. In 1937 the incidence was 6.47 per 10,000 population.
62
ibid.
38