London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Whitechapel 1877
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]
This page requires JavaScript
8
VACCINATION.
WHITECIIAPEL UNION.—Return of the number of Cases Vaccinated by the Public Vaccinator and the Medical Officer of the Workhouse, together with the number of Births Registered during the same quarters.
| Quarter ending— | PUBLIC VACCINAT0R | Workhouse | Totals. | Births Registd. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Cases | "Re-Vacci-nation. | Primary Cases. | Re-Vac-cination | Primary Cases. | Re-Vaccination. | ||
| March, 1876 | 236 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 261 | 0 | 722 |
| June | 369 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 405 | 0 | 684 |
| September | 354 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 394 | 0 | 644 |
| December | 347 | 201 | 41 | 0 | 388 | 201 | 714 |
| March, 1877 | 408 | 500 | 37 | 27 | 445 | 527 | 757 |
| Juue | 382 | 5 | 24 | 1 | 406 | 6 | 699 |
| September | 336 | — | 26 | - | 362 | — | 607 |
| December | 241 | 3 | 32 | — | 273 | 3 | 704 |
| Totals | 2673 | 709 | 261 | 28 | 2934 | 737 | 5531 |
From the above Table, it appears that 38.7 per cent, of the number of children whose
births were registered in this District have undergone primary vaccination at the hands of
the Public Vaccinator, and the Resident Medical Officer of the Workhouse, while in the
preceding quarter there were 62.2 per cent.
Small Pox.
It appears from the returns of the Registrar-General, for the week
ended on Saturday, the 19th January, that "the deaths from small-pox
which had been 26 and 25 in the two preceding weeks, further rose to 51
last week; a higher number than in any week since the middle of June
last; 30 occurred in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals, and 21 in private
dwelling houses. Of the 51 fatal small-pox cases in the Metropolis, 25
were certified as unvaccinated, and 14 as vaccinated; while in the remaining
12 cases the medical certificates gave no information as to vaccination."
The Registrar-General further remarks "that the number of small-pox
patients in the Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals which had declined at the
beginning of October last to 137, has since steadily increased to 309, 374,
415, and 468 at the end of the last four weeks. During the same weeks the
numbers in the Highgate Small Pox Hospital had been 26, 36, 43 and 47.