Whooping cough immunization in France and Britain: Discussion paper

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s, the attitude in Britain of both the medical profession and parents towards whooping cough immunization has been in sharp contrast to that in France. As both countries have a similar-size population with many common characteristics and are separated only by a few miles of sea, we visited France to discover why these differences in practice and experience have occurred. In Britain, vaccine trials were conducted in the late 1940s by the Medical Research Council, and an effective vaccine was introduced in 1951. The vaccine was soon widely administered although it did not become part of the nationally advised immunization policy until 1956. A decade later the vaccine was officially recommended by the French authorities, although pertussis vaccine had been in use in France since the late 1940s.