London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1883
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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88
Medical Officer, Dr. Buchanan, in his report for 1881. Dr.
Buchanan, first of all, refers to the relative mortality from
small-pox in the vaccinated, and in the unvaccinated, inhabitants
of London, which formed the subject of a memorandum
which he submitted to the Board in June, 1881, and containing
the following table:—
Comparative Small-pox Death Rates among Londoners, Vaccinated and Unvaccinated respectively, for the 52 weeks ended 29th May, 1881.
| Death rate of people of subjoined ages. | Per million of each age of the vaccinated class. | Per million of each age of the unvaccinated class. |
|---|---|---|
| All ages | 90 | 3,350 |
| Under 20 years | 61 | 4,520 |
| Under 5 years | 40½ | 5,950 |
But mainly he limits the scope of his further enquiry on
the subject, to the mortality from small-pox among children
under the age of ten years, for the sufficient reason that the
limit embraces the period within which vaccination has been
efficiently compulsory.
The population of London under ten was 916,784 on
census night, 1881, of whom, in round numbers, 55,000 were
unvaccinated, and 861,000 were vaccinated. In 1881 some
782 small-pox deaths occurred among the 55,000 unvaccinated,
as against 125 among the vaccinated. "Upon equal
numbers of the two classes, therefore, the mortality from
small-pox among the unvaccinated, was about a hundredfold
the mortality from small-pox among the vaccinated. This
degree of protection was given to children under 10, by the
average current vaccination of London."*
* "The power of a thorough vaccination to protect against death from smallpox,"
(it is stated), "is at least ten times greater than the power of much that
passes under the name of vaccination."