INFLUENZA SERUM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 140, 14 June 1924, Page 16

INFLUENZA SERUM

VACCINATION OFFERS NO PRO

TECTION.

"Vaccination did not produce any clear-cut protection against influenza," is the conclusion of Major H. J. Nichols of the U.S.A. Army Medical Corps, reporting on vaccination against iniluenza for 1922-23, states a special correspondent of the -"Christian Science Monitor." In the introduction to tho report Major Nichols says that "each winter since its problem of acute respiratory diseases, active efforts have been made at. the Army .Medical School to test, the value fii vaccination against one or more of these diseases . . . The results of this work iieetiSnot bo discussed at this time- except to say that, with the posssible exception oE pneumonia . no radical progress has been made in the solution of tho problem of the control of respiratory diseases by vaccination." The principal experiment in vaccinating against influenza was undertaken at Fort Myer under- the direction of Major M. W. Hall of tho Medical Corps, who concludes that the\ "results shown seem to indicate further experiment with, larger doses; The results of similar work at Governor's Island were "equally inconclusive.1' The .men ,were not compelled to .be vaccinated, •and _11 refused. "As soon as •vaccine of sufficient promise is available, it can be made obligatory for recruits, and then its full value will'be evident," it is stated, in discussing the sub^ecfof young recruits. Ihe general conclusion is "that the results are not decisive as there were not sufficient cases, but several cases of influenza did occur among the vaccinated, and this evidence, with that at Fort Myer, - leads to tho final conclusion that; with !!■-• doses used, vaccination with B pntumosintes did not produce any clear-cut protection against influenza. In view of our imperfect knowledge 6f the new group of organisms on which B pneumosintes is a member, it is premature to draw any final conclusion from this vaccination experiment as to the etiology of 'influenza. The persistent work of Hie investigators jit the Rockefeller Institute Ims revealed :\ now group of organisms which ran be handled only with laborious technique. 'The key to the {nttxw.mn problem very probably lies in this groi.i|.. but further work is nscessury. and, at llir< proper timo, further 'co-operative work should h» undertaken by the army."