Report of the Medical Officer of Health with reference to the Vaccination Act, 1898.
- Liverpool (England). Health Committee.
- Date:
- 1902
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report of the Medical Officer of Health with reference to the Vaccination Act, 1898. 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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![Tlie ]3oar(ls of Guardians, on tlie other hand, with the exception alluded to, discharge obligations only in regard to the poor. If small- pox were a disease confined to the poor, there would be some grounds for leaving the control of vaccination in the hands of the GruardiaHS, but inasmuch as it will attack any unvaccinated person, whatever his social condition may be, it is obvious that small-pox has no exclusive relationship with poverty. It is anomalous that the only certain means of safeguarding the public from the dangers of small-pox should not 'be in the hands of the body which is responsible for the public health. (h) In Liverpool, where primary vacciiiation of infants is as effec- tually if not more effectually carried out than in any other district in the couu'try, the necessity for the transfer of the entire Vaccination Staff from the various Boards of Gruardians to the Sanitary Authori- ties is less urgent than in most other places, owing to the careful manner in which the du.ties have been dealt with hj the Boards of Guardians in this City, but even in Liverpool, if the proposed trans- ference were made, re-vaccinations Avould be facilitated, and carried out in a more systematic manner. It is the Health Department which receives the first intimation that re-vaccination is necessary, owing, maybe, to an outbreak of small-pox in the house or establish- ment, and the inevitalble delay in communicating through the proper channels with the officers of another body involves loss of valuable time. Again, some singular instances have arisen in which persons have entertained the erroneoxis view that vaccination at the cost of the Guardians places them in the category of recipients of relief. This sentiment, foolish as it no doubt is, has proved an obstacle in the way of getting a number of persons re-vaccinated. These observations apply with greater force in other districts, where difficulties in the way of administering the Act are very much greater than they are here. 2. It is necessary that additional provision should be made for](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21362750_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
