Memorandum on immunological procedures which service personnel and their families may need at home and abroad.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Defence.
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorandum on immunological procedures which service personnel and their families may need at home and abroad. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    (4) Minor disadvantages of the method are that one operator is unlikely to vaccinate more than three persons a minute if it is properly carried out, and that the piston must not be withdrawn before making an injection. However, though this is a useful way of ensuring that a vein has not been entered, it is not essential before making an intradermal or a subcutaneous injection, when such an accident should be avoidable by exercising reasonable care. (5) Sterilization of the needle only—in hot oil between injections as described above— should therefore be reserved for circumstances in which resources are not available for providing a sterile syringe for each person in any of the other ways mentioned. 56 Other Methods of Vaccination There are two possible methods of by-passing the difficulties of sterilization which arise when a needle and syringe are used. (a) Needleless injection. Needleless injectors, which deliver a dose of vaccine as a high velocity jet, are in use for subcutaneous vaccination. Intradermal injection by this method is under trial and once a satisfactory instrument has been perfected it may become available for mass vaccinations in the Services. (b) Oral vaccination. The development of attenuated strain vaccines for oral administration, such as the poliomyelitis vaccine used at present, avoids all the difficulties of sterilization of syringes described above. This method may also be extended to other diseases in the future as new vaccines become available. 57 Contraindications In the Armed Forces mass immunization should rarely be called for provided the requisite vaccination state is maintained. The main objection to mass immunization is that it is impossible to carry out the precautions outlined in para 63a, with the result that a number of persons will be vaccinated who ought not to be, resulting in the ocur- rence of cases of illness and of adverse reactions that ought not to occur. 58 59 a: Reserved. Section 6 Injection technique 60 Vaccine Containers: Filling of Syringes (a) Ampoules (1) Once an ampoule has been opened the whole of the contents must be used at one session, or the unused portion must be discarded. Material in opened ampoules must not be reserved for future use. (2) Before opening an ampoule of vaccine the label should be checked, the ampoule shaken and any liquid in its neck dislodged. If not already present, a file mark should be made on the neck of the ampoule which should then be swabbed with alcohol and broken off with sterile forceps or with the fingers covered with a sterile gauze swab. The ampoule is then held on a slant, the sterilized needle inserted and the syringe charged with a dose of vaccine.