Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1928] / Monmouthshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![dealing with this subject to hear in mind that there are others who quote extracts from medical writings on vaccination, and do so for a reason very different from the reason which has induced me to criticize J)r. Killick Millard’s letter.— I am, etc., Dartford, January 2nd, 1927. A. F. CAMERON. Sir, Dr. A. F. Cameron suggests that ray opinions about vaccination have apparently undei'gone considerable change. I can assure him that there has been no change. My faith in vaccination remains just as strong as ever—my faith in much of the current teaching about vaccination remains still rather weak. Dr. Cameron inquires (though I rather doubt if he is really seeking enlightenment) as to my exact meaning when I say: “ Under these circumstances vaccination proved quite incapable of preventing widespread and fatal epidemics.” Do I mean by “vaccination,” he asks, “ corapulsoi-y infant vaccination”? Certainly I do. My whole letter was dealing expressly with the question of compulsory vaccination, and infant vaccination is the only foim that has ever l>een compulsory in this country, t had hoped that the context made my meaning quite clear. There is, however, one small correction in my letter which I should like to make. I said that in Leicester there had beeii no death from Small-pox for twenty-one years. Actually the last death occurred in 1904, so that it should have been twenty-two years. I had forgotten that we had entered upon another year.—I am, etc., C. KILLICK MILLARD. Health Offices, Leicester, Jan. 29th, 1927. Lastly, with reference to certain recent correspondence in the Press, incom- plete and misleading statements were made with regard to vaccination statistics. The correspondent stated that in the 1901-2 Tjondon epidemic there were 0.945 vaccinated victims, hut true to his policy of suppressing or ignoring vital facts, he makes no mention of the number of unvaccinated victims. In this very epidemic the outstanding fact emerges that the case mortality among the vaccin- ated was 10 3 per cent., whereas in the unvaccinated it was as high as 34 6 per cent. Furthermore, the ages of the vaccinated cases shoiild have l)ee]i stated as in tlie foregoing tables, for immunity cannot be assured beyond 9 or 10 years after vaccination or revaccination. Fortunately, the jiuhlic refuse to he hoodwinked by such literature, hut prefer to be guided by the opinion of such men as Sir George Newman, M.D., F.ll.C.P., the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, who says, “ It cannot be too enpdiatically asserted that, in tlic opinion of those best qualified to judge, vaccination remains our one and only sure bulwark against the spread of Small-pox.” H. M. AYE.ES, Assistant Medical Officer.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28861280_0063.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
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