[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch, Parish of St. Leonard].

  • St. Leonard Shoreditch (London, England). Parish Council.
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Shoreditch, Parish of St. Leonard]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: City of London, London Metropolitan Archives

    19/43 (page 20)
    20 The table before you, however, justifies an important conclusion. It is not a little remarkable that the proportion of registered vaccinations to births should have risen from G2 per cent. in 1855 to 69 per cent. in 1857, and that it should have fallen to 60 per cent. in 1858 and so low as 50 per cent. in 1859. Has Vaccination really been less extensively performed during the last two years ? I fear that the answer must be in the affirmative. Great pains have been taken to give the utmost effect to the imperfect powers at command. The hand-bill printed in the appendix was posted up in conspicuous places, and copies circulated in courts and houses where Small-Pox had occurred, and letters were addressed to the clergy inviting their aid and influence in carrying out the objects of the circular. House-to-house visitations were made by myself and the Inspectors in addition to very many scattered inspections of houses where the disease had appeared. Much personal influence was also exerted by the public Vaccinators. The following summary of the result of inspections of two of the Parochial Schools, conveys I believe moro accurate information than can be obtained in other ways. The children found to be not vaccinated, or in my judgment not protected by the vaccination they had undergone, were vaccinated on the spot by the assistant of the Public Vaccinator. I considered this measure to be necessary not only for the primary purposo of protecting the children, but also for that of arriving at a complete series of observations that might serve as a reliable basis for estimating the extent of non-vaccination, and of the number of persons who arc reposing in false security on the faith of vaccinations that have failed. Result of Inspection of Two Schools with reference to Protection from Small-Pox. Children. Had Small Pox. Vaccinated. Not Vaccinated Result or Vaccination. Scars Good. Scars Bad. Full. Modified None. No return 264 8 104 56 30 49 33 8 5