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175
[1905
Average cost per vaccination in Lambeth in the three years after the
Act, 9s. 3d.
Average cost per vaccination in Islington in the three years after the
Act, 8s. 5d.
The Lambeth Council also calls attention to the fact that whereas only
8,231 vaccinations took place when the cost was 5s. 7d. per case, as many as
12,035 took place when the cost was gs. 3d.
It is not known what inference is intended to be deducted from this observation,
but it might be pointed out that it was a well-known fact that prior to
the Act of 1898 becoming law, many thousand persons throughout the United
Kingdom put off the vaccination of their children in the hope that it might
contain some loophole to enable them to escape the obligations of the Act
then in force. We all know as a matter of fact that the new Act did contain
a clause which relieved persons holding a conscientious objection to
vaccination from their obligations. When, however, it was seen that this
relief could only be obtained at some little trouble, the great mass of defaulters
under the old Act had their children operated on, and consequently the returns
largely increased.
The fact also that under the new Act the child was visited at the parents'
or guardians' house, and that consequently the inconvenience and trouble of
attending at the Vaccination Station was thereby avoided, was another and not
inconsiderable factor in promoting vaccination.
The Lambeth Borough Council makes the statement that "the fact of
domicilary visits is not sufficient to account for the great increase in cost, seeing
that the Public Vaccinators in a district like Lambeth, which is densely
populated, can perform as many vaccinations in one day under the new
conditions as they could under the old conditions of Stational Vaccination."
On the face of it this statement is incorrect, for it is manifestly impossible
for any Vaccinator to vaccinate as quickly with glycerinated calf lymph
as it is from arm to arm. Besides there is the sterilization of the
instruments, the protection of the newly performed vaccination with
a shield, as well as the journey from place to place to be taken into
account. It would be safe to assert that any practitioner could easily perform
half-a-dozen operations at a station in the time it would take him to perform
one under the new law.