Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Annual report for 1902 of the Medical Officer of Health
This page requires JavaScript
17
For the further promotion of re-vaccination within the Borough,
the Public Health Committee, early in February, issued a leaflet on
the desirability of all persons seeking protection against small-pox by
re-vaccination, and this leaflet was delivered by hand at every house in
the Borough.
The following Table shows the vaccinations and re-vacoinations carried out in the Borough, exclusive of the above, at the cost of the Rates, for the years ended 29th September, 1902, and 29th September, 1901. TABLE XV.
Primary Vaccinations. | Re-Vaccinations. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Under 1 year of age. | Over 1 year of age. | Total. | Total | |
1901 | 683 | 64 | 747 | 72 |
1902 | 799 | 682 | 1481 | 4514 |
No figures are available to show the number of vaocinations and
re-vaccinations carried out by private medical practitioners, and not
falling on the Rates. The numbers re-vaccinated amongst the wealthier
classes in the Borough were, no doubt, large. In a house in the extreme
east of the Borough, where one of the men-servants was attacked with
small-pox, all the other inmates of the house, 11 in number, had been
recently re-vaccinated. This man-servant was the only person in the
house not re-vaccinated. His attack was a severe one and he died in
hospital.
By the kindness of a lady in Chelsea, who placed a sum of money
at my disposal for the purpose of promoting vaccination in the Borough,
it was possible to get a large number of the inmates of the common
lodging houses in Chelsea re-vaccinated. This work was commenced on
the 7th March, shortly after the occurrence of the 3 cases in the
common lodging house in Smith-street, this being the first house taken
in hand. The work was continued almost nightly for a fortnight, when
it was found that 211 male inmates and 22 female inmates in Chelsea
common lodging houses had been re-vaccinated. The cost per head
worked out very close upon 2s. 6d., this including the initial monetary
inducement, and compensation for disablement in a certain small
proportion of oases (15 per cent.) The comparatively small sum spent
in this way had, I think, a most beneficial effect. The spread of
small-pox in the common lodging houses was arrested at a time when
further cases might have been anticipated, and a class of people specially