London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Whitechapel 1881

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Whitechapel]

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12
Londoners can, says Dr. Buchanan, "by availing themselves of
one average vaccination, diminish the chances of their children
dying of small-pox in the proportion of 146 to 1, for the first five years
of their life; and the same vaccination serves to lessen, in the
proportion of 74 to 1, the chance of their being killed by the
disease before they reach the age of 20. After that age, the
vaccination in infancy is further reduced in its protective influence,
for the difference in small-pox mortality between the unvaccinated
and the vaccinated class, through the whole period of life, is as 1 to
37, a protection incomplete indeed, but obviously important for everybody
to possess."
For further information on this subject, I may refer you to my
Quarterly Reports ended April 2nd, 1859, pages 4 to 8; December
1870, pages 10 to 21; December 1876, pages 7 to 13.
In page XXI. of the Forty-second Annual Report of the Registrar-General,
for the year 1879, and published in the year 1881, is the
following Table, showing the deaths from small-pox, 1877—78—79,
among the vaccinated, unvaccinated, and those in whom no statement
as to vaccination has been made.

Deaths from Small Pox, 1877—78—79.

localities.Vaccinated.Unvaccinated.No Statement as to Vaccination.
London1,0972,0731,248
Best of England and Wales3966341,222
All England and Wales1,4932,7072.470

The Registrar-General remarks that, "there can be no doubt
that the main cause of the outbreaks of small-pox is neglect of vaccination;
and from information supplied by various registrars, there
is reason to believe that it is no uncommon thing for a parent, in
order to avoid the vaccination acts, not to register the birth of a
child at all, or to give the registrar a false address. What numbers
of the children, or persons generally, who die of small-pox, owe their
deaths to such violation of the law, it is impossible to say with