English vaccination and small pox statistics : with special reference to the report of the Royal Commission, and to recent small pox epidemics / by Noel A. Humphreys.

  • Humphreys, Noel A.
Date:
[1897]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: English vaccination and small pox statistics : with special reference to the report of the Royal Commission, and to recent small pox epidemics / by Noel A. Humphreys. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    X English Vaccination and Small Pox Statistics ; with special Reference to the Report of the Royal Commission, and to recent Small Pox Epidemics. By Noel A. Humphreys. [Read before tbe Royal Statistical Society, 16th February, 1897. A. E. Bateman, Esq., C.M.G., Vice-President, in the Chair.] Few will be disposed to under estimate the importance at the present time of sound information and conclusions on the “ effect “ of vaccination in reducing the prevalence of and the mortality *' from small pox.” This was the first of the five questions sub¬ mitted to the Royal Commission on Vaccination, on the 29th of May, 1889, for inquiry and report. After a laborious inquiry extending over more than seven years, at a cost of more than 13,000/., tbe Royal Commission issued their final report in August last. This report, which can scarcely fail to serve as the basis of further legislation on the subject of compulsory vaccination, contains an almost exhaustive amount of informa¬ tion on the nature and history both of small pox and of vaccina¬ tion. Abundant materials for the formation of sound conclusions on the vexed question of the influence of vaccination on small pox, whether viewed from a political, medical, or purely public health point of view, may be found in the various volumes of report and evidence issued by this Commission during the past seven years. The determination of the real influence and effect of vaccination as a protection against small pox appears to be to so large an extent a statistical problem, that I have felt justified in asking the Royal Statistical Society to devote an evening to the consideration and discussion of this paper, wThich deals mainly with the statistical evidence given before the Royal Commission, with special reference to the statistics of recent small pox epidemics. My object has been to present these statistics in such a manner as to facilitate the formation of sound conclusions on the subject, and with as much impartiality as the nature of the facts and figures permits. If vaccination confers the protection against small pox that has been attributed to it, the steady increase in the adoption of the practice which has been maintained throughout the greater part of this century should have resulted in a marked diminution of the mortality from small pox during that period. It is therefore in the first place necessary to supply an answer to the question which at the outset of the inquiry presented itself to the Commis¬ sioners : Does the history of small pox mortality since vaccination w as introduced afford warrant for a belief in its protective effect ? The rate of mortality from small pox prior to the discovery of vaccination is beside the present inquiry, and it is not uutil 1837, when the civil registration of deaths commenced, that any really useful or trustworthy statistics of small pox mortality in England are available. Vaccination Legislation. Before, however, considering the Registrar-General’s statistics of small pox mortality since 1837, it is desirable to note the various legislative enactments dealing with vaccination. Although the House of Commons made grants to Jenner in 1802 and in 1806, and annual grants to the National Vaccine Establishment, which was founded by royal warrant in 1807, the first Act dealing with vaccination was “ An Act to Extend the Practice of Vaccina- “ tion,” which received royal assent on the 23rd of July, 1840. By this Act poor law guardians throughout England and Wales were empowered and directed to contract with their medical officers, or with any legally qualified medical practitioners, for the vaccination of persons resident within each union or parish, payment being authorised for alt successful primary vaccinations. This Act moreover declared the inoculation of small pox illegal, and the use of it was made penal. In the following year this first vaccina¬ tion Act was amended, and the expenses of carrying out the original Act was charged on the poor rates; it was further provided that “ the vaccination or surgical or medical assistance “ incident to the vaccination of any person resident in any union « or parish, or of any of his family, should not be considered “ parochial relief.” Under these two Acts vaccination remained voluntary; they only provided the public vaccinator, whose services were available to all who might come to him fur the purpose of vaccination. In 1853, at the suggestion of the Epidemiological Society, which had recently been founded, Lord Lyttleton introduced into the House of Lords “an Act to extend and make compulsory the “ practice of vaccination,” which afterwards was passed and be¬ came law without opposition or division. By the provisions of this Act each union, or parish if not in union, was divided into vaccination districts, in order to increase the facilities for the vaccination of the poor. Vaccination stations were appointed, at 22502811927