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13
SMALL-POX.
One case only has occurred during the year. The patient was an
adult, and the only likely source of infection that could be traced
was that he had been handling documents from Middlesboro', where
at that time this disease was very severe.
VACCINATION.
During the year the Royal Commission on Vaccination published
their Report, which gave rise to the introduction of a new Vaccination
Bill in Parliament. This new Act made three important alteration;
in the previous Vaccination Laws. Of these the first was the extension
of the age limit for the primary operation from three to six months ;
the second abolished repeated convictions for non-compliance with
the provisions of the Vaccination Act; and the third made provision
for the Public Vaccinator to perform gratuitous vaccination at private
houses, instead of compelling the children to be taken to the Public
Vaccination Station.
The fact that the new Act was based upon the findings of the
Royal Commission makes it a matter of great surprise, not to say
regret, that no provision was made for the enforcement of re-vaccination,
especially as this was a point strongly dwelt upon by the Royal
Commission.
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Perhaps the most prominent feature of the new Bill was the introduction
of a clause enabling those who have conscientious scruples
to evade prosecution by making a declaration to that effect before a
magistrate.
One can hardly believe that this concession, although apparently
giving support to the biassed opinions of anti-vaccinators, will actually
reinstate vaccination in the favour of the public by thus lessening the
opposition to it.
To exemplify this idea, let us consider the question of vaccination
in other countries. In Holland, where vaccination is optional, and,
on that account, neglected, the mortality from Small-pox is six hundred
times greater than in Germany, where vaccination is rigidly enforced.
In oui district, over 20 per cent, of the children born escape
vaccination, and as, moreover, we are in close proximity with districts
where there exists a still greater percentage than this, it is only too
obvious that should Small-pox break out in this district, with its
hundreds of unvaccinated children, that we must expect and be prepared
to meet an exceptionally severe epidemic.