Sixth report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the subject of vaccination; with minutes of evidence and appendices.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Vaccination.
Date:
1897
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sixth report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the subject of vaccination; with minutes of evidence and appendices. 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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    APPENDIX XVIII. The Secretary of the State Boabd of Health of MASsACHtrsETTS, U.S.A., to the Commission. Common-wealtli of Massachusetts. State Board of Health. 13, Beacon Sti-eet, Boston, Gentlemen, Dec. 12, 3889. In -view of the fact that Dr. Ranch, of Illinois, has mentioned the laws of Massachusetts relative to vaccination, in his evidence before your honourable Commission, I would respectfully forward to you a copy of the Health Laws of Massachusetts, which include those relating to vaccination. {See pages 33 and 34 of the Manual.) I also send a copy of the 47th Registration Report of Massachusetts, and a copy of my article on vaccination recently contributed to''Wood's Reference Handbook of Medical Sciences.* In the former may be found the statistics of small-pox in Massachusetts for 40 years (on pages 350-352). Respectfully yours, Saml. W. Abbott, Secretary. Inmates of fac- tories, etc., to be vaocinai;ed. Pub- lic Satutes, c. 80, §54. Towns may make lurther pro- vision for vacci- nation. Public Statutes, c. 80, §55. School commit- tee not to allow unvaccinated chil- dren to ^ attend public i schools. Public Statutes, c. 47, § 9. 77. Incorporated manufacturing com- panies, superintendents of almshouses, State reform schools, industi'ial schools, lunatic hospitals, and other places where the poor and sick are received; masters of houses of correction, jailers, keepers of prisons, warden of the State prison, and superintendents or officers of all other institutions supported or aided by the State, shall, at the expense of their respective establishments or institutions, cause all inmates thereof to be vacci- nated immediately upon their entrance thereto, unless they produce sufficient evidence of previous successful vaccina- tion within five years. 78. Each town may make further pro- vision for the vaccination of its inhabi- tants, under the direction of the board of health or a committee chosen for the purpose. 79. The school committee shall not allow a child who has not been duly vaccinated to be admitted to or con- nected with the public schools. {Enclosure No. 1.) Manual for the use of Boards of Health of Massa- chusetts, containing the Statutes relating to the Public Health and the Decisions of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts relating to the same: prepared by direction of the State Board of Health. [Containing, at pages 33-4, the following section as to vaccination :] {Enclosure No. 2.) Forty-seventh Report to the Legislature of Massa- chusetts relating to the registry and return of births, marriages, and deaths in the Commonwealth, for the year ending December 31, 1888; together with the reports relating to the returns of libels for divorce and to the returns of deaths investigated by the Medical Examiners for the year 1888 : prepared by the Secretary of the Commonwealth : with editorial remarks by Samuel W. Abbott, M.D. (Boston, 1889.)* Vaccination.f 74. Parents and guardians shall cause their children and waoi-ds to be vacci- nated before they attain the age of two years, and re-vaccinated when the select- men or mayor and aldermen shall, after five years from the last vaccination, re- quire it. For every year's negkct the party offending shall forfeit five dollars. 75. The selectmen and mayor and aldermen shall require and enforce the vaccination of all the inhabitants, and, when in their opinion the public health requires it, the re-vaccination of all the inhabitants who do not prove to their satisfaction that they have been success- fully vaccinated or re-vaccinated within five years. Every person over twenty- one years of age, not under guardian- ship, who neglects to comply with any such requirement, shall forfeit five dol- lars. pro- 76. Towns shall furnish the means of l?c StauSIs, c!f(), vaccination to such of their inhabitants § 53. ' ' as are unable to pay for the same. Parents, etc., to cause children to be vaccinated. Penalty for neg- lect. Public Sta- tutes, c. 80, § 51. Selectmen, etc., to enforce vaccina- tion. Penalty for neglect. Public Statutes, c. 80, §52. Towns to * Note.—See Appendix XV., at pages 760-2, ^ollere extracts given hi: Dr. Abbott from the 'Mh Registration Report of Massachusetts and, with some corrections and additions, from tlie article on vaccination in Wood's Reference handbook of the 3Iedical Sciences, will be found. The former extract contains a table, giving the statistics of .imnU-poA- in. Slassnchusetts during the fortyyears WHO-fii) {to which Jjr. Alibiilthos added the figures for the year 1990), similar to the table referred to above contained in tlie ilth Registration Report; the latter table, however, deals with the forty years 184,9-88. t Note.—At page 3 of the Manual it is stated that the dates m heavier type opposite a few of the sections are tlie years in which those statutes, or laws essentially the same, toere first enacted; and at page 33, opposite the section given above as to vaccination, is the date 1809 in heavier type. Referring to that date, on the same page, is the following foot-note; Chapter 117, section 2, Acis «/1809, ■' provided for ' inoculation of the inhabitants with the cow-pox, ' under the direction of the town board of health, or of a committee ' chosen for that purpose' {Enclosure No. 3.) Article on Vaccination, extracted from Wood's Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences.* The Secketaey of the State Boaed of Health op Massachttsetts, U.S.A., to the Commission. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Office of State Board of Health, 13, Beacon Street, Boston. Deak Sie, May 8, 1890. I would respectfully acknowledge the receipt of your letter of April 25, containing certain inquiries relative to the Vaccination Laws of Massachusetts. I have carefully examined the original Statutes of the State in the State Library, and find there are certain errors in the Revised Statutes of 1836 which account for the errors in the Manual. The date 1809 must have been used because in those early years of the century the Legislature was convened in 1809 and held two sessions, one in that year and another in the following year, but it was called the Legislature of 1809. Thn actual date of the enactment of the Law, of which I enclose a copy, was March 6, 1810. I also enclose a • Note.—See footnote on page ante.