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55
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
In consequence of this I advised the Council to obtain the
consent of the School Board for London, and also of the Managers
of the other Public Day Schools in the parishes of Clapham, part
of Streatham and Tooting, to have an examination of the arms of
the children made so as to ascertain the percentage of unvaccinated
children attending school.
The result of this examination is contained in a report which
was presented to the Public Health Committee in March, 1902, and
which is here inserted.
Report of the Medical Officer of Health on the Examination
of the arms of Children attending schools in Clapham,
Balham & Tooting.
To THE PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE.
Gentlemen,—
I have to report the results of the examination of the
arms of the children in the elementary schools in Clapham, Balham,
and Tooting, these localities being considered from an examination
of the returns of the Vaccination Officer, those in which the highest
proportion of unvaccinated children in the Borough existed.
In all, 20 schools were examined, 13 of these being Board,
6 Church, and 1 Roman Catholic school.
The total number of children on the roll of these schools was
16,142, but it was found impossible to separate the boys from the
girls in some schools, so that in the Tables which are given only
the totals are stated.
Of these 16,142 children the parents of 5,212, or 32.28 per cent.,
refused to allow the inspection to be made. It is to be regretted
that so many parents objected, as to some extent these refusals
lessen the value of the results obtained. It is almost certain that
the percentage of unvaccinated among the objectors would be
found to be greater than among those examined, so that the percentage
of unvaccinated to those examined may be taken as a
minimum, and that if all the 16,142 had been examined this percentage
would have been higher.