London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1884

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]

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147
subject of a memorandum which he submitted to the Board in
June, 1881, and contained 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 ages903,350
Under 20 years614,520
Under 5 years40½5,950

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
ten, by the average current vaccination of London." *
" If the London children under ten who were unvaccinated, had
had the protection which the current vaccination gives, not 782
of them, but at the outside nine, would have died of small-pox
during the year.
"If the 861,000 vaccinated children had died at the rate of
the 55,000 unvaccinated, we should not now be considering 125
* "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."