The Soliloquy Of a Postage Stamp #4 : Fouad Kronfol

" Today we start with a ditty, you will see,

Whose title is, "TB or not TB".

And its topic is, innoculation with BCG...

To draw similarities with today's COVID-19

We must remember that strong arguments were seen..

Those for, those against, and UNICEF in between.

It dared join the International TB Campaign

With 3 Red Cross Societies from the Scandinavian chain.

It was a gamble to lose, but children's health to gain !

From 1948-1951 millions of doses were created

In 17 countries the exercise was evaluated,

And YOURS TRULY was among those vaccinated.."

One of the first major disease control activities of UNICEF was joining the International Tuberculosis Campaign (ITC) sponsored by the Danish and Swedish Red Cross and the Norwegian Relief for Europe during the period 1948-1951.

Vaccination with BCG was carried out in 17 countries including, in Europe:: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Greece, Malta, Poland and Yugoslavia; in the Middle East: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Palestinian Refugees and Syria; In North Africa: Algeria, Morocco, Tangiers and Tunisia; and in South America : Ecuador .

Despite scepticism about the BCG vaccine and some tension between UNICEF and WHO, the ITC became the largest vaccination campaign undertaken up to that time. Millions of children were vaccinated against TB, and BCG was adopted as a standard vaccine against preventable childhood diseases. UNICEF provided $ 4 million for supplies and equipment.

Although not among the 3 original Scandinavian Red Cross societies Finland was one of the earliest issuers of stamps for the ITC campaign. This envelope sent from Lappeenranta in Finland to Norton , Kansas, USA has an unusual story; the 2 stamps on the right were issued on 2 September 1946. They are postal tax stamps with a surcharge (5 + 1) and (8 + 2) Marks , which funds were earmarked for TB control activities.The two stamps on the left are the same 1946 issues but these were printed on 1 April 1947 and they have additional new values surcharged in black (6+1 and 10+2). 

The letter was post-marked 20 January 1948. It is clear that the face value of the four stamps exceeds the then postage rate, and quite rare to post two complete sets of stamps from different issues on the same cover.  One is led to surmise that either the sender or the recipient were philatelists and the cover was "custom-made" to make it more collectible ???

 

A very attractive strip of stamps from Poland depicting various messages about TB and BCG vaccination. The original strip consists of ten stamps but some are missing from this strip. Poland was one of the original 17 countries where the ITC had focussed its vaccination campaign.

Many countries have been issuing stamps, both for regular mail and as postal tax, to publicize TB control activities or to raise funds for these from postal services. Here is a sample collection of stamps from some of these countries, showing various activities related to TB control; Morocco: over-print reads"help TB patients"; Mexico: depicts "National Committee for TB "; Spain: "National Campaign against TB"; Philippines, commemorates "National TB Society"; Rwanda, shows lab work on smears of tubercle bacillus; Dominican Republic shows a TB Sanatorium,: VietNam shows an X-Ray chest exam for TB.

Algeria was among the original 17 countries included in the ITC campaign. This First Day Cover, however, is issued on 5 January 1974 and depicts a young child with a text that reads, "The BCG protects the Child" in French and Arabic. It is post marked from Oran.

  

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