...that worried about kid's health, there was nothing equivalent (in the
days when I and my siblings were kids, including when Jonas Salk figured
out the dead polio vaccine at the very beginning of the 1950s AND when
nobody messed with actual scientists while they were doing their work).

For the person looking for Children's Health information before there was a
department:

The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) was the first such
incarnation and came into being during Eisenhower's Admin in the 1950s
(Ovita Culp Hobby was the first secretary) and that prior to that time
Children's Health was largely in the purview of the NIH, PHS, and similarly
interested (and mostly other independent) organizations in the Federal
government.

For resources during that period, you might check with the Library of
Congress with their Congressional records because I'm of the opinion that
they are the most likely possible source of records that might give you a
clue about where you'll find other sources for the 1920s.

HEW became HHS (Health and Human Services) towards the end of the last
century or early in this century (a time period when I wasn't so into what
was happening in the Federal government).

I hope this helps some.

virginia hetrick
Still stuck in the 1960s...