Memorandum on vaccination against smallpox.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Health.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorandum on vaccination against smallpox. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Vaccination Techniques—Practical Aspects 4. Site of Insertion. It is generally agreed that vaccination, especially of infants, is best done on the arm. The site of election is at the junction of the upper and middle thirds of the humerus behind the midline. (See Fig. I). Here scarring will be less noticeable and the lesion is protected naturally from trauma. Vaccination on the leg tends to lead to severe local and general reactions so that choice of this site entirely for aesthetic reasons is unwise. » Preparation of the skin. Chemical agents, such as ether, acetone or spirit, should not be used. If the skin is dirty it should be cleansed gently with plain soap and water and wiped dry. Vigorous rubbing is inadvisable. 6. Application of vaccine. Liquid smallpox vaccine, stained with brilliant green, is now supplied in plastic tubing. The vaccine can be expressed after snipping the tubing with scissors and applied with a needle by one of the two methods described below. Alternatively it may be more convenient to pierce one end of the tube with a sterile, disposable, hypodermic needle, which can also be used for applying the vaccine. If scissors are used it is inevitable that they will become contaminated and appropriate precautions are necessary. It may be wise to keep a special pair of scissors solely for this purpose. After use, the scissors should preferably be boiled or else wiped with a swab thoroughly soaked in surgical spirit. Alcohol should not be allowed to come into contact with the vaccine before or during the vaccination procedure. FIG. II. The ‘multiple pressure’ method of vaccination, showing the rapid up and down motion of the side of the needle, held by the hand at the right, against the drop of vaccine on the arm at the left.