The Ring College Immunization Disaster

Abstract

Chapter five examines the Ring College immunization disaster, in which 24 children reportedly contracted tuberculosis and one 12-year-old girl died following routine anti-diphtheria immunization. The existing historiography relating to the Ring incident has, without exception, insisted that Burroughs Wellcome Ltd mistakenly supplied a bottle of live tuberculosis in lieu of a bottle of the anti-diphtheria serum toxoid-antitoxin floccules (TAF), even though this charge was not substantiated by a High Court ruling in 1939.This chapter provides new evidence suggesting that liability for the tragedy lay not with Burroughs Wellcome Ltd, but with the local attending doctor and his advisors, who mounted a conspiracy to cover up initial negligence in administering the immunization scheme and subsequent perfunctory medical treatment of the affected children.