Developing Burroughs Wellcome Alum-Toxoid

Chapter four suggests that although the practical application of anti-diphtheria immunization in Cork achieved good results, its success was qualified somewhat by the limitations of Burroughs Wellcome’s anti-diphtheria serum TAM. To reduce the occurrence of post-treatment diphtheria cases – occurrences which undermined public confidence in active immunization – field epidemiologist Jack Saunders introduced an experimental ‘one-shot’ Burroughs Wellcome anti-diphtheria antigen in Cork. This chapter explores the development of Burroughs Wellcome’s Alum-Toxoid anti-diphtheria antigen and the relationships that developed between the British pharmaceutical company and Irish medical officers: the former eager to field trial experimental anti-diphtheria serums unrestrained by restrictive British legislation and the latter eager to embrace any solution, however radical, to leverage a modicum of control over diphtheria and its often-fatal consequences, even if this meant side-lining the rights of vulnerable children residing in state-run institutions.