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
Tottenham 1902
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tottenham District]
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14
This table shows that in 4 separate towns, children who had
been Vaccinated were far less liable to attack from Small Pox, and if
attacked to death from it, than those who were unvaccinated. After
10 years of age, as I have said, the protection becomes less, and
re-vaccination is necessary. It will be seen that of the Vaccinated
children under 10 years of age, exposed to infection in the 4 Towns,
about 10 per cent. only were attacked, and of those attacked less than
3 per cent. died; whilst amongst the unvaccinated more than 45 per
cent. of those exposed to infection were attacked by the disease, and
of those attacked, more than 38 per cent died; that is proportionately
about 4 times as many unvaccinated as Vaccinated were attacked, and
60 times as many died. The next table shows the same thing in less
detail, but in each case with an enormous advantage on the side of the
Vaccinated, as its figures prove that under 10 years of age, when the
Vaccinated were more fully protected, the unvaccinated were about
7½ times more liable to attack by Small Pox than the Vaccinated.
| Towns. | Date of Epidemic. | Attack-rate under 10. | Attack-rate over to. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaccinated. | Unvaccinated. | Vaccinated. | Unvaccinated. | ||
| 1887-88 | 7.9 | 67.6 | 28.3 | 53.6 | |
| 1892-93 | 4.4 | 54.5 | 29.9 | 57.6 | |
| 1891-92 | 10.2 | 50.8 | 27.7 | 53.4 | |
| 1892-93 | 2.5 | 35.3 | 22.2 | 47.6 | |
| 1895-96 | 8.8 | 46.3 | 32.2 | 50.0 | |
* Final Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination, p. 65.
In the following table as well as in diagram 2 appended to this
report, the relative severity of attack amongst the Vaccinated and
Unvaccinated is shown. The table (apart from the Tottenham figures)
is taken from the report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination, the
diagram being from A Study of 972 Cases of Small Pox by Dr. G. B.
Russell, late Medical Officer of Health for Glasgow.