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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be found in the accompanying Tables, and it is shown that the proportion
of deaths amongst the unvaccinated is enormously greater than amongst
the vaccinated. It will also be seen that whereas at Gloucester the
number of cases amongst the unvaccinated was about 20 times as great
(513—26) as amongst the vaccinated; in London the proportion was
about 8 times (95—12); and in Middlesborough it was only 1½ times
(62—43) as great If the London cases under 20 are taken it will be
seen that the numbers are by some curious coincidence equal (161).
Table 9.—
| Ages. | Vaccinated. | Doubtful. | Unvaccinated. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases. | Deaths. | Mortality per Cent. | Cases. | Deaths. | Mortality per Cent. | Cases. | Deaths. | Mortality per Cent. | |
| Under 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 17 | 15 | 88.24 |
| 1—5 | 1 | — | — | 2 | 2 | 100.00 | 44 | 24 | 54.55 |
| 5—10 | 11 | — | 4 | 4 | 100.00 | 34 | 13 | 38.24 | |
| 10—15 | 42 | 1 | 2.38 | 3 | 1 | 33.33 | 41 | 14 | 34.15 |
| 15—20 | 107 | 2 | 1.87 | 3 | — | — | 25 | 13 | 52.00 |
| Under 20 | 161 | 3 | 1.86 | 12 | 7 | 58.33 | 161 | 79 | 49.07 |
Again, if reference is made to Table 3 it will be seen that, as is
generally found, if the cases at all ages are taken together, the number
under the head of "vaccinated" is considerably greater than under
"unvaccinated." This fact has not escaped the notice of those opposed
to vaccination, and has been used as an argument to show that vaccination
is useless, thougn it really only shows that vaccination in infancy
does not give (as is well known) life long immunity from Small Pox.
The following considerations deserve attention:—(1) After the
age of 10, the immunity afforded by vaccination in infancy has become
materially lessened, consequently after that age an individual who has
not been re-vaccinated is only very imperfectly protected. (2) The
better a community is vaccinated, the more nearly will the numbers of
attacks in each case "vaccinated" and "unvaccinated" approximate
to one another. A little reflection will show the probability of this if,
in fact, any protection is afforded by the operation. For instance, if
any given Town, there are 1,000 children, of whom 900 are vaccinated