PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

through their surgeries. They hoped ‘that there will be a considerable extension of this
work in the Dominion’. 68
This scheme, aimed at reaching preschoolers, was not very successful due to the cost
of three visits to the doctor as well as parental concerns regarding immunisation.
Additionally, although Turbott and Director-General of Health, Michael Watt, were
keen to extend the immunisation programme, many Medical Officers of Health did
not share their enthusiasm, preferring to await the outcome of Turbott’s efforts in the
East Cape. The Health Department left it up to individual Medical Officers of Health
to implement school-based diphtheria immunisation programmes and did not co-
ordinate them or introduce a standard scheme throughout the country. Programmes
that did take place, such as in Wellington in 1938-39, were undertaken once the
success of East Cape and then South Auckland had been established. For any further
progress central direction and implementation of a nationwide programme was
imperative so efforts could be co-ordinated and coverage massively extended.
Low staffing levels also meant it was difficult to implement the immunisation
programme in schools. Kinohaku School in the Waikato experienced an outbreak of
diphtheria in 1937 and the School Committee tried, without success, to arrange for the
immunisation of their schoolchildren. They were told by the Department that ‘it was
impossible to arrange the matter as their officers were overworked now and had their
hands full’. 69 The School Committee therefore had to arrange for a local practitioner
to undertake the immunisations. 70 The School Medical Service before 1939 was
affected by both a lack of resources and a reduction in staff numbers. This
corresponded with a rise in the numbers of children to be inspected, from 78,980 in
1921 to 107,556 in 1938. 71 Given that the main focus of the School Medical Service
was physical examinations, little time was left to fit such extras as diphtheria
immunisation.
68
‘Diphtheria Immunisation’, H1 131/11/6 B.92, ANZ, Wellington.
69
J. Schultz to Minister of Health, 8 December 1937, H1 131/11/6 B.99, Diphtheria in Schools 1933-
39, ANZ, Wellington.
70
The doctor charged ₤20 for this service which the Department refused to refund on the grounds that
there was no need for urgency. This was because the immunisation took at least three months to work
and would have had no effect in an ongoing epidemic.
71
M. Tennant,, ‘Missionaries of Health. The School Medical Service during the Interwar Period’, ed.
L. Bryder, A Healthy Country. Essays on the Social History of Medicine in New Zealand, Wellington,
1991, p.132.
40