Reasons why the vaccination law should not be repealed : a consideration of some of the arguments of the anti-vaccinationists / published by the Committee on Vaccination Connecticut State Medical Society.

  • Connecticut State Medical Society.
Date:
1907
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reasons why the vaccination law should not be repealed : a consideration of some of the arguments of the anti-vaccinationists / published by the Committee on Vaccination Connecticut State Medical Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    normal condition was noted, viz:— an abscess of the axillary glands. These cases were vaccinated under the most unfa- vorable circumstances — children of the poorer quarters, suffering from scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria, and other diseases in the infected wards, and yet but one complication resulted. The ages varied from one day to ten years and it is worthy of note that no harm resulted in the case of the child one day old. As ]STothnagel truly states, In the very large majority of cases the course of vaccinia is normal, without incident and is followed by the desired result, viz:— immunity to variola, and this remains the principal thing to the end. Regarding the constitutionality of laws regulating vacci- nation, reference is made to the decision of the Court of Ap- peals of the State of New York in the case of Viemeister vs. White (88 N. Y. 44, App. Div.).1 The contention was whether the legislature was prohibited by the Constitution from enacting that such children as have not been vaccinated shall be excluded from the public schools, the Constitution requiring the legislature to provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children of this state may be educated. The Court of Appeals of New York upholds the law. It says that a statute entitled a health law must be a health law in fact as well as in name, and must not attempt in the name of the police power to effect a purpose having no adequate connec- tion with the common good. When the sole object and gen- eral tendency of legislation is to promote the public health, there is no invasion of the Constitution, even if the enforce- ment of the law interferes to some extent with liberty or property. The right to attend the public schools of the state is necessarily subject to some restrictions and limitations in the interest of the public health. A child afflicted with U. Am. Med. Ass., XLIII, 1904, p. 1897.