SHORT NOTES ON VACCINATION IN BENGAL FOR THE
YEAR 1920-21.
I have the honour to submit the following brief notes on Vaccination in
Bengal for the year 1920-21.
2. Officer-in-charge of the department.—I was in charge of the
department throughout the year.
Of the Deputy Sanitary Commissioners (now designated Assistant
Directors of Public Health) attached to the four health circles, Dr. Brahma-
chari was in charge of the Presidency Circle, Dr. Roy of the Burdwan Circle
and Dr. Ghosh of the Rajshahi Circle throughout the year, while Dr. Sufi
held charge of the Dacca Circle from the 1st April to the 30th May and from
the 4th November to the 31st March 1921. During the latter's absence on
leave, Dr. Ghosh was in additional charge of the Dacca Circle.
3. Strength of Staff.—In Calcutta, the number of inspecting officers
and vaccinators was 14 and 48 against 14 and 94 during the preceding year.
In the rural areas of the Presidency, they numbered 133 and 1,670 and in
the mufassal municipalities, dispensaries, etc., 8 and 170, as compared with
133 and 1,816 and 8 and 186 during 1919-20.
4. General operations.—Excluding 11,876 operations performed by the
staffs of the British India Steam Navigation Company and the Calcutta Port
Health Department, for which no details are available, the total number of
vaccinations reported to have been performed in the Presidency during
the year was 2,326,497 on 2,320,782 persons against 3,186,642 on 3,181,727
persons during the preceding year. Of the total operations performed,
1,420,037 were primary and 906,460 re-vaccinations, as compared with
1,646,099 and 1,540,543 during 1919-20. There was thus a decrease of
226,062 cases in primary vaccination and 634,088 in re-vaccination, or a total
of 860,145 operations.
As compared with the previous year, out of 28 districts, including Calcutta,
an increased number of operations was reported from five districts, viz., Malda,
Chittagong, Murshidabad, Jalpaiguri and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In
Malda, there was an increase of 8,270 operations, viz., 1,268 in primary vac-
cination and 7,002 in re-vaccination, said to be due to increase in the number
of the surviving infant population available for vaccination, as compared with
the preceding year in the case of primary vaccination and to the continued
prevalence of small-pox in one of the thanas in the case of re-vaccination.
In Chittagong, the increase in primary vaccination amounted to 9,423, but,
there being a decrease in re-vaccination, the total increase amounted to 3,780
cases, and is ascribed chiefly to the introduction of free vaccination and the
appointment of an additional sub-inspector of vaccination by the District
Board. The increase in the other three districts was insignificant and calls
for no remark. The decrease in the number of operations was marked in
Calcutta (207,971), Rangpur (117,345), Faridpur (101,986), 24-Parganas
(50,452), Dinajpur (49,772), Dacca (45,814), Nadia (31,765), Pabna (30,811),
Burdwan (28,960), Darjeeling (26,988), Bakarganj (23,365), Noakhali (22,514),
Howrah (21,226), Tippera (15,812), Hooghly (10,272), Khulna (9,886), Bogra
(8,865), Birbhum (8,755) and Bankura (8,025). Decrease in re-vaccination
occurred in every district, except Murshidabad, Rajshahi, Malda and the
Chittagong Hill Tracts, and is explained by the fact that small-pox was less
prevalent during the year under review as compared with the previous year,
when it broke out epidemically in almost all the districts, and the people
accepted vaccination eagerly, in consequence of which the number of vaccin-
ators had to be increased, and a very large number of vaccinations was
performed. The increase in re-vaccination in Rajshahi was due to an out-
break of small-pox. With regard to the decrease in primary vaccination
which occurred in every district except Hooghly, Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Malda,
Mymensingh, Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where the increase
was insignificant, it is attributed that, in addition to the above cause, out-
breaks of malaria, influenza and cholera in some districts were responsible
for it to a certain extent. In Bankura, the prevalence of measles amongst