Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The German vaccination commission / by E. J. Edwardes. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![(Bead: Dec. 9<fc, 1885.) The object of this paper is to give a summary of the Eeport of the German Vaccination Commission of 1884, and of the statistics which accompany it. The following letter, by the Imperial Chancellor's representative, which is prefixed to the Eeport, explains why the Commission was appointed.' [Copt.] Berlin, January 9th, 1885. The opinion formed during the carrying out of the Vaccination Law of April 9, 1874, that vaccination is at times attended with danger to the health of the individual vaccinated, has already for several years induced a closer observation of the circumstances which cause these injurious effects, and of means for warding them off. The investigations carried on in the Imperial Board of Health Office plainly show that the fault lay partly in the selected lymph, in particular the human vaccine lymph hitherto chiefly used, and partly in the neglect of necessary pre= cautions by the vaccinators. The Imperial Board of Health, therefore, entered into a closer examination of the questions of the introduction of animal lymph into universal use, and of the institution of a systematic supervision of the work done by public vaccinators. Moreover, the Petitions Committee of the Reichstag, in its deliberations upon the petitions before it for the abolition of compulsory vaccination, repeatedly expressed itself in a similar sense. « The lesser preservability and lesser certainty of effect of animal as compared with human lymph constituted an impediment to its general introduction. Later on, the Imperial Board of Health learnt that measures for overcoming these objections had been discovered. These measures were tried, and the favourable results which were obtained made feasible the general use of animal lymph. Prom the importance of the subject, however, it seemed desirable to lay the whole question (together with the scheme for the institution of an efficient supervision of the results of public vaccination) before a committee of experts. Meanwhile, the Eeichstag, in its discussion on the petitions against compulsory vaccination on June 6, 1883, expressed its desire that the present physiological and pathological status of the vaccination ques- tion, more especially as regards the precautions fitted to ensure the greatest possible security to the health of the vaccinated individual, should be referred to a committee of experts in the subject; and that they should draw up a code of rules aiming at such security, with the eventual general use of animal lymph. They were, moreover, to arrange for the institution of a useful small-pox statistic, on the basis of obli- gatory returns, for the respective departments of the empire. The task before the Commission was increased. The Commission was composed of delegates from the Imperial States chiefly concerned, and by the addition of three anti-vaccinators versed B](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24399280_0001.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
