PhD Thesis - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

Quebec government began BCG vaccinations for schoolchildren by 1949. 154
Nevertheless, other provinces did not adopt BCG to the same extent as the ‘precise
value of the vaccine was still in dispute…as were the clinical and ethical
implications’. 155 Apart from Quebec, BCG in Canada was viewed as ‘no cure-all - it
was only…one more adjunct to the campaign’. 156
BCG in New Zealand
In 1947, Matthew Oram, member for Manawatu, criticised the Health Department and
the government for not encouraging and developing the use of BCG in New Zealand
and commented on the many favourable trials BCG had undergone elsewhere. He
argued, like the Canadians, that the ‘drug was not a cure-all, and was not 100 per cent
perfect, but its efficacy has been abundantly proved’. 157 Oram’s remark was indicative
of public interest in the vaccine. In February 1948, after receiving positive reports
from the medical profession, the Health Department announced BCG would be
introduced by the end of the year beginning with a trial on nurses. The introduction of
BCG had important repercussions for many sectors of society, but this section will
focus on the provisions relating to the use of BCG for schoolchildren.
Tuberculosis was still perceived as a major problem as illustrated by the passing of
the Tuberculosis Act in 1948. No other disease since smallpox had attracted such
legislative attention most probably due to the fear tuberculosis still invoked. Even by
the mid-1940s, the ‘shelters’ as the sanatorium at Greenlane in Auckland was known
as, were still greatly feared and spoken of ‘in hushed tones’. 158 Now, with the aid of
BCG, mass x-rays, and more effective treatments the Health Department hoped to
finally bring the disease under control.
One significant aspect of this control policy was the Tuberculosis Act of 1948. This
regulated the treatment and defined the powers of medical officers to deal with those
154
K. McCuaig, The Weariness, the Fever and the Fret. The Campaign against Tuberculosis in
Canada 1900-1950, Montreal, 1990, p.84.
155
ibid., p.192.
156
ibid.
157
New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (NZPD), 1947, 279, p.389.
158
J. Bassett, written comment, 16 December 2006.
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