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51
Smallpox.
No case of this disease has been notified during the year.
Vaccination.
By the courtesy of the Vaccination Officer, who has kindly supplied
me with the necessary data, I am enabled to give some information as
to the important question of vaccination in Hampstead.
The figures for the year 1905 are not yet complete, as the time
limit for the vaccination of children born in the last few months of 1905
has not yet expired.
From the Table (No. XVI., p. 136) it will be seen the extent to
which the inhabitants of the Borough are availing themselves of the
security which vaccination affords.
The number of instances in which the inhabitants of Hampstead
have taken advantage of the " Conscientious Objector" clause continues
about the same as in preceding years, being between 2 and 2.5 per
cent. of the registered births.
The Public Vaccinator, Dr. A. II. Cook, informs me that the clause
works well in his district, and that he encounters very little opposition,
the great majority of the poorer inhabitants being glad to avail themselves
of the facilities for vaccination afforded them.
From reference to the Table (No. XVI., p. 136) it will be seen that
206 exemption certificates have been issued since the beginning of 1900,
which is equal to 2.3 per cent. of the registered births.
When the Act of 1898 was passed, it was as a five years' experiment,
but in spite of the fact that in the meantime a Smallpox Epidemic of
considerable severity has visited the country, the question has never
been reviewed, but the provisions of that Act have been kept in
operation from year to year through the instrumentality of the Annual
Expiring Laws Continuance Act.
Scarlet Feyer.
170 cases were notified, as compared with 159 in 1904, and the
attack rate per 1000 of the population was 1.93.
Six deaths were recorded, equal to 3.8 per cent. of the cases
notified, or 0.07 per 1000 of the population.