PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

press and the Health Department to put forward his views on immuisation. 106 In 1946
Thomas Lonie, the Medical Officer of Health for Palmerston North, wrote with
reference to immunisation, ‘Wanganui has always been a difficult place for any work
of this nature’. 107 Dr U. A. Hadden, who held diphtheria immunisation clinics in
Wanganui from 1943 felt compelled to write to the Director-General of Health to
inform him of the state of affairs there as a result of Dr Williams’ activities:
I fear that Dr Ulric Williams’ Anti-Immunisation outbursts are having a really
appreciable effect upon the willingness of the public to accept immunisation, and I
would wish to stress the fact that I regard the position in Wanganui as one of potential
danger, in view of the sharp rise in incidence in diphtheria. 108
Nevertheless, Lonie reported to the Director-General of Health that in 1946 ‘a recent
increase of cases of diphtheria stimulated the local conscience resulting in a large
increase in the number of immunisations done privately’ and with enough support to
maintain a monthly Health Department clinic. 109 Anti-immunisation sentiment was
fine when there was no threat of diphtheria, but many parents would take their
children for immunisation if they felt there was a threat. This model of panic
immunisation during times of impending crisis after periods of neglect was still a
common pattern in New Zealand highlighted when an epidemic of smallpox struck in
1913. Panic and fear caused a huge rush for immunisation after years of apathy. 110 It
was this pattern of thinking that the Health Department wished to change as had
already happened in the campaigns in New York City and Canada. The trend now
was for immunisation to be used as a preventative measure, hopefully to be accepted
by the public even when there was no outbreak of the disease. How the Department
tried to achieve this will be discussed in the subsequent chapters.
106 Wanganui Chronicle, 27 November 1939, 2 December 1939 and 7 December 1939, Wanganui
Herald, 27 November 1939 and later 24 May 1945. The Health Department sent a reply to both papers
setting out the advantages of immunisation. See H1 131/11/6 11076 Diphtheria in Schools 1939-42,
ANZ, Wellington.
107 Memo from MOH Palmerston North to Director-General of Health (DGH), 2 September 1946, H1
131/11/6, 19514, Diphtheria in Schools 1946-7, ANZ, Wellington.
108 U. A. Hadden to DGH, 13 May 1946, H1 131/11/6, 19514, ANZ, Wellington.
109 T. Lonie to DGH, 2 September 1946, ibid.
110 See A. S. Day, ‘The Maori Malady: The 1913 Smallpox epidemic and its nineteenth century
background’, MA thesis, Auckland, 1998.
48