HC Deb 07 June 1939 vol 348 cc416-7
53. Mr. Leach

asked the Paymaster-General as representing the Lord President of the Council, whether, in view of the statement in the Medical Research Council's Report, Special Report Series, No. 195, regarding an anti-diphtheria campaign in Quebec in which there was mass-inoculation of all groups of children below the age of 10 years, and the statement in the report of the Medical Research Council for the year 1937-38, that prophylaxis against diphtheria was not used in the city of Quebec, he will ask the council to inquire in which years prophylaxis against diphtheria was used in that city?

The Paymaster-General (Earl Winter-ton)

The statement by the authors of Special Report No. 195 refers to an immunisation campaign during the years 1930, 1931 and 1932 in certain districts of the province of Quebec. The statement by the Medical Research Council in their recent Annual Report refers explicitly to the year 1936 and to the city of Quebec. The two statements thus refer to different areas at different times. In the case of the city of Quebec, immunisation as a general measure had not been adopted up to and including 1936, the year to which the particular statement referred, but more recent information is being sought.