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166
1905]
THE STATE OF VACCINATION.
The good repute which Islington once held for its vaccination state
seems to be steadily returning, notwithstanding the gross misrepresentations
of anti-vaccinators and others who are more or less ignorant of the wonderful
effects it has had in preventing one of the vilest diseases that ever afflicted
mankind, for the complete returns for 1904 show that the percentage of
children, less those who have died un-vaccinated, has now reached 82.3, which
is the highest figure attained since 1894, when it stood at 84.0, from which year
the percentage has fallen until it reached low water mark in 1898, when 66.9
per cent only were vaccinated.
The recent return shows that Islingtonians at all events have not been
carried away by the wiles and sophistries of these persons, who seem to think
that the greatest consummation to be desired in this world is to do away with
vaccination and to allow the population to become unprotected against Small
Pox.
The number of persons who applied for exemption certificates from
vaccination for their children numbered only 89, as against 6,774 children who
were successfully vaccinated.
For this success credit must be given to Messrs. Butcher and Hughes,
the Vaccination Officers, who seem to have worked most diligently, and, as
the return shows, successfully.
The several tabular statements which are herewith appended deserve
careful study.
It is not proposed to labour this subject, as no good purpose can be served
thereby, particularly as it is almost futile to attempt to convince an antivaccinator
that he is wrong in the opinion he holds respecting vaccination,
for it is almost impossible to make him understand the error of his ways.
Nevertheless, it may be added that the writer has known several of its
opponents in the course of his long experience in public health and hospital
work who have been convinced of its efficacy, but only by the hard logic of
affliction.
He, however, sincerely trusts that it may not be their fate, as it has been
of others whom he knows, to bewail too late the catastrophe that has
overtaken themselves and their families.