Band 7+: The graph shows the impact of vaccinations on the incidence of whooping cough, a childhood illness, between 1940 and 1990 in Britain. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The line graph illustrates the correlation between immunization and reported cases of whooping cough in Britain for 5 decades since 1940.

Overall, the graph reveals a strong inverse relationship between vaccination uptake and incidence rate of whooping cough, leading to the near elimination of the disease by the end of the period.

To begin with, the number of infections experienced a sharp surge in early 1940’s at 175,000, witnessed a steep plunge to 75,000 by 1945. The next decade experienced a series of fluctuations till the administration of vaccination in 1955. In 1960, 81 percent people were inoculated, coincided with the drop in new cases of whooping cough.

However, when the immunization fell back to its lowest point at 30 percent during 1980’s, resulted in the resurgence of the disease rate, recorded over 50,000. This underlines the cause-effect relationship between vaccination and disease incidence. As the vaccination uptake returned to its peak rate at 94 percent, corresponded with the near eradication of whooping cough by late 1990’s.