§ 11. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that medical officers of health are advising that children immunised against diphtheria in infancy require only one booster dose on reaching school age to maintain their immunity; what one booster dose consists of; and what evidence he has that it will achieve the claim made.
§ Mr. BevanI am advised that it is desirable that children immunised in infancy should have one reinforcing injection of 173W toxoid on entering school, and again at the age of ten, since otherwise there is a tendency for immunity to diminish in certain cases. The beneficial effect of these injections has been shown by blood tests. A booster dose actually consists of half a cubic centimetre of alum precipitated toxoid or one cubic centimetre of toxoid antitoxin floccules.