Report on vaccination and its results, based on the evidence taken by the Commission during the years 1889-1897.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Vaccination.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on vaccination and its results, based on the evidence taken by the Commission during the years 1889-1897. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    cases of alleged injuiy had extended over a Considerable period. 4. We have held 136 meetings for the examination of witnesses, and have examined 187 witnesses. In addition to this, we have caused important investigations to be con- ducted for our assistance. 5. On the eighteenth occasion on which we met, we were invited to make a personal examination of two children who were alleged to have suffered from the effects of vaccination. Some of the members of the Commission, at the request of their colleagues, made the desired examination. It was felt, however, that it would be neither practicable nor expedient to pursue the same course in other cases in which injury from vaccination was alleged. Authority was accordingly obtained from the Treasury to secure the services of competent observers to make such investigations as might be called for. A lai*ge number of cases of alleged injury from vaccination brought to the notice of the Commission have thus been the subject of careful investigation. 6.. In addition to an examination of cases of this nature, it seemed'expedient that a complete and systematic inquiry should be made into the circumstances. connected with important local epidemics of smallpox which' occurred from time to time^ with a view especially to see what light they threw on the question of the protective effect of vaccination. Inquiries were therefore instituted as regards local outbreaks in the Dewsbury Union in 1891—2, in London, in Warrington, and in Leicester, in 1892—3, and in Gloucester in 1895-6. 7. As regards other local outbreaks of smallpox, which occurred in Glasgow, in Liverpool, in Salford and Manchester, in Oldham and Chadderton, in Leeds, in Sheffield, in Halifax, and in Bradford, during the years 1892-3, more limited inquiries were instituted to ascertain the extent and, character of the various outbreaks and the steps taken by the local authorities to deal with them.