Computers and the effectiveness of the measles vaccination campaign in England and Wales

Summary Measles vaccination on a large scale began in England and Wales in 1968. We have compared the incidence of notified measles from 1968 to 1976 in the population whose vaccination programme was computer-assisted by 1971 with that in the population where computers were not used. The measles experience of both populations was similar from 1968 to 1970. Thereafter, all the incidence rates fell, the decline being most marked in the computer population. For the period 1971–6, the difference between the rates for the two populations is statistically significant, and the difference persists and remains significant when the urban and rural components of the populations are examined separately. We conclude that computers contributed to the lower incidence of measles in the computer population between 1971 and 1976 and suggest that the severity of measles epidemics may be further reduced by the nationwide use of computers.