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SHORT NOTES ON VACCINATION
FOR THE
YEAR 1909-10.
THE following are brief notes on vaccination in Bengal for the year
1909-10.
Officer in charge of the Depart-
ment.
2. Lieutenant-Colonel F. C. Clarkson, I.M.S., was in charge of the
department from 1st April 1909 to 28th February
1910 and I from the 1st March last.
The
following officers served as Deputy Sanitary
Commissioners.
Bengal and Orissa Circle.—Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. Ozzard, I.M.S., was
in charge from 1st April to 4th August 1909 and I assumed charge from
5th August 1909 to the end of the year.
Bihar and Chota Nagpur Circle.—Captain W. C. Ross, I.M.S., held charge
all the year round.
Strength of staff.
3. In Calcutta there was no change in the number of permanent inspect-
ing officers and operators.
In the provincial rural areas and mufassal
municipalities and dispensaries, etc., the inspecting staff and operators, includ-
ing apprentices, numbered 140 and 2,346 and 8 and 178, against 139 and 2,242
and 8 and 172, respectively, of the previous year.
Returns from the Tributary States of Orissa not having been received,
figures for those States are not given in this report.
General operations.
4. During the year under report 2,053,773 operations were performed
in the Province, the number of persons vaccinated
being 2,032,959. Of these, 1,868,585 cases on
1,850,362 persons were primary and 185,188 cases on 182,597 persons were
revaccinations, against 2,019,531 persons vaccinated with 1,810,213 primary
and 209,318 revaccinations of the previous year. Thus it will be seen that in
the Province there was an increase of 34,242 operations which include 20,814
repetition cases. The repetition cases were not taken into account in previous
years.
The ratio of success under the two different heads in rural areas and
municipalities was 99.00 and 64.93 and 98.20 and 57.31, respectively, against
99.37, 62.24, 98.60 and 60.39 of 1908-09.
Out of the 34 districts of Bengal there was an increase of operations in
19 and a decrease in 15 districts. The increase is most noticeable in Cuttack,
where it amounted to 23,088, while Midnapore contributed 17,051, Jessore
13,260, Purnea 12,213, Bankura 8,932, Balasore 8,906, Darbhanga 8,537,
Champaran 6,804 and Bhagalpur 6,372. The principal decrease occurred in
five districts, viz., Nadia 7,839, Shahabad 7,149, Singhbhum 6,260, Puri 5,816
and Manbhum 4,904. In Cuttack the increase is chiefly due to the exertions
of the Special Inspector of Vaccination for Orissa and also to the activity shown
by the other inspecting staff. In Midnapore it is attributed to the great help
received from the Magistrate and to the exertions of the District Inspector
of Vaccination. In the cases of Jessore, Purnea, Bankura, Balasore, Dar-
bhanga, Champaran and Bhagalpur it is said to be due partly to the better
health of the districts and to a fall in the prices of food-grains which enabled
the poor class people to pay vaccination fees and to greater energy displayed
by the Vaccination Inspecting staff in coping with small-pox outbreaks.
As regards the decrease, the Civil Surgeon of Nadia ascribes it to the
inefficiency of some of the staff who have been warned. In Shahabad it is
said to be due to the outbreak of plague in the Sadar and Buxar subdivisions
of the district and of malarial fever in the whole district. In Puri, it was due