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28
the children to be medically inspected with a view
to determining the amount of protection each enjoys.
Re.vaccination at the age of (say) fourteen years
might also be introduced in connection with school
attendance, though to obtain the maximum of re.
vaccinations a younger age might be necessary. In
the event of an outbreak of smallpox, the sanitary
authorities should be required to make a house.to.
house visitation for the purpose of securing the
vaccination of those who had previously escaped,
and the re.vaccinatiou, where necessary, of those
who had been exposed to infection.
The foregoing suggestions imply a certain amount
of interference with the " liberty of the subject."
The interference is far less than that involved in the
proposals foreshadowed in the Dissent to the Report,
and the individuals affected are at ages when the
State is entitled to act on their behalf, if such action
is for the good of the community. The prime object
of vaccination is to prevent the individual from
taking smallpox, but even if any given individual
take the disease after vaccination, the diminution
in the risks of a severe attack and a fatal termination
is so great, that it far outweighs the trivial inconvenience
and suffering involved in the operation of
vaccination under proper precautions.
The changes also imply a large increase in the
work of vaccination officials, especially the public