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were protected, but a proportion of from 10 to 20 per cent. of the whole number
not at all protected, whilst many others, who had been vaccinated, presented
such imperfect scars, that there was reason to believe the protection was much
less complete than it might be.
In some Schools it had been laid down as a rule, that all children should be
vaccinated previously to admission; but even in these, the rule had been almost
ignored, or at any rate no system had been adopted to ensure its being attended
to.
The importance of vaccination is now almost universally admitted, and its
value has been incontestably established on the most incontrovertible data.
There is no doubt that epidemics of Small Pox break out owing to the neglect
of parents to have their children vaccinated, especially at times when the disease
is not prevailing.
I have been desired by the Sanitary Authorities in this Parish to urge on
you the importance of making a continuous effort in future to get all the children
who come to your School well vaccinated. With this object it is very desirable
that all persons bringing their children for admission to your School should be
informed that the Managers of the School consider it necessary, in order to keep
Small Pox from the children, that they should all have been vaccinated, and
that they expect all parents to produce evidence that this operation has been
successfully performed on their children, either by producing the original
vaccination certificate, or some other medical certificate; or where this cannot
be readily effected, that they should be examined by one of the Public Vaccinators,
or myself, at the earliest possible opportunity.
Should you accede to this suggestion, I shall be happy on hearing from you,
to make an arrangement by which this examination can be carried out periodically
as occasion requires.
Unless something can be done to ensure a more thorough vaccination of the
public, the Legislature will no doubt, ere long, render the Compulsory Vaccination
Act more stringent, and people will be obliged, under penalties, to
submit to what a regard for public health demands, but which ought to be
carried out if possible by moral suasion, rather than by penal enactments.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Tour obedient Servant,
Thomas Hillier, H.D.,
Medical Officer of Health."
If it is assumed that the proportion of all children under 15 years of age,
living in the Parish, who are unprotected by vaccination, is the same as the
proportion found in the Public Schools, it would appear that there were in the
Parish about 2800 children under 15 years not vaccinated at all, besides many
children under 3 months of age, and between 8 and 9 thousand children but
imperfectly vaccinated. The number of children living in the Parish under 15
years of age may be taken at about 56,000.