Report and supplementary report to the Parliamentary Bills Committee of the British Medical Association on vaccination penalties : the principal [i.e. principle] of compulsion in vaccination / by Ernest Hart.

  • Ernest Abraham Hart
Date:
1880
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report and supplementary report to the Parliamentary Bills Committee of the British Medical Association on vaccination penalties : the principal [i.e. principle] of compulsion in vaccination / by Ernest Hart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of showing how universally the need is felt for penalties of sufficient strin- gency to secure the due enforcement of that operation. In 1877, there was no system of compulsory vaccination in the Isle of Man. A case of small-pox was imported from Manchester to Douglas, and was sent to the hospital. The wife of the patient was allowed to attend him, and, despite all endeavours, went into the town on several occasions. The disease spread very rapidly, especially in the filthy purlieus of the old town, until, between July 8th, 1877, and March iith, 1878, no less than 257 cases occurred. The epidemic caused such panic that a sanitary commission was appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor to decide, amongst other things, whether vaccination ought not to be made com- pulsory in the island. In the report of this commission, the decided opinion was expressed that this should be done. Facts brought to the notice of the commissioners seemed to them to “point plainly in this direction, and are only confirmatory of the experience of medical men in England and elsewhere. The deaths from small-pox during the present epidemic here have been only 7 per cent, among the vaccinated patients, whereas among the unvaccinated there have' been more than 40 per cent.; while it may be mentioned that there has not been a single case among those brought under the notice of the house-surgeon [of the hospital] where a revaccinated person has been attacked.” The Manx Vaccination Act of 1878.—Acting upon this report, the Lieutenant-Governor (Mr. H. B. Loch, C.B.) had no difficulty in pro- curing the passing by the House of Keys of an Act of Tynwald making vaccination compulsory within three months of birth. The method of procedure seems to be modelled upon the English Act, and need not therefore be particularly described. A notice of the requirement of vaccination is given to each parent, public vaccinators are appointed at fees per case to perform vaccination gratuitously at least every three months, and in other respects the English Act is closely followed. Sec- tion 19 of the Act is similar to Section 27 of the English Act of 1867, in imposing a penalty of a pound on persons who neglect to take their children for vaccination ; and Section 21 of the Act reproduces Section 31 of the English Act, under which repeated proceedings may be taken.* The Manx Legislature, has, therefore affirmed the principle which it is now desired to upset in England. I should not wish to make too much of this; but, in a small community like the Isle of Man, where local and class prejudices must necessarily be much more potent in their influ- ence on the Legislature than in England, I think this acceptance of the principle of repeated penalties is not without its significance.t The experience, therefore, not only of England, but of Scotland, Ire- land, and the Isle of Man, is quite opposed to the view that the Govern- ment are now taking; and I sincerely hope that they may see fit to re- consider what cannot but be considered as a hasty and rash proposal. * See the case of Allen v. Worthy, referred to in my previous report, t It is interesting in another connection to note that, under the Manx 'Vaccination Act, a beginning has been made with regard to the reristration of disease in the island. Section 25 of the Act provides that “ it shall be the duty of any householder in whose house any person shall be infected with small-pox, .and of every medicid practitioner who shall professionally attend any person infected with small-jrax, as soon as may be to give notice at the nearest police-station of such person being so infected. Any person acting in contravention of this section shall be liable, on con- viction, to a penalty not exceeding five pounds.