§ LORD MARLEYI beg to ask the question standing in my name.
§ [The question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government to furnish the latest information available as to the effects of anti-diphtheria immunization, specifying the number of cases and the number of deaths of children who have been immunized and of those who have not been immunized and the total number of children in each category.]
§ LORD SNELLMy Lords, the latest figures available, which do not include children privately immunized outside the arrangements made by local authorities, and do not therefore cover the entire child population, are as follows: The number of children under fifteen immunized under local authority auspices in England and Wales during the three years 1940; 1941 and 1942 was approximately 3,748,000 and it is reasonable to assume that up to the present time about one half of the present child population has been immunized. Among nearly 96,000 children shown in local authority returns as having contracted diphtheria in the same three 931 years, about 7,370 had completed the course of immunization as compared with over 88,000 not so protected. Returns of deaths from diphtheria distinguishing immunized from non-immunized have been obtained from local authorities since January, 1942, only. During the year 1942, of 1,522 children who died from diphtheria, forty-one were immunized and 1,481 were not.