NOTES ON VACCINATION IN THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY
FOR THE YEAR 1918-1919.
Strength of the Department.
There was no change in the permanent vaccination staff during the year
under report. Temporary vaccinators at Aden were
not engaged and the new scheme for a special vacci-
nation establishment not having come into force work there was carried on by
the Dispensary Sub-Assistant Surgeons.
Primary vaccinations (Appendix
I, Statements I and III).
2. Six lakhs five hundred and forty persons were
primarily vaccinated against 705,513 in the previous
year.
3. The decrease was shared by all Registration Districts and is attributable
to the unusual incidence of disease and death. The epidemic of malaria in
Sind which began in 1917 had yet to run its course in the early months of the
year and later the pandemic of influenza visited all parts of the Presidency.
Failure of rains leading to evacuation of villages in some parts also had its
disturbing effects on the amount of vaccination work done. The number of
primary vaccinations fell by 26,744, 23,282, 16,720, 9,414 and 20,577 in
Western, Central, Southern, Gujarat and Sind Registration Districts, respect-
ively, and by 5,986 in the Presidency Circle and 1,874 in Aden.
Results in primary vaccination.
4. Five lakhs fifty-two thousand one hundred and fifty-four primary
vaccinations or 91.94 were successful, 2,031 or .3 per
cent. were unsuccessful, and the results were not
ascertained in 7 per cent. of the cases. The percentage of success excluding
unknown results was 99.63 per cent.
Sex and Age.
5. Of the primary vaccinations 79 per cent. were of infants under one
year of age and 19 per cent. of children between the
ages of 1 and 6 years. The proportion of males to
females primarily vaccinated was as 105 to 100.
Re-vaccination (Appendix
I,
Statements I and III).
6. Seventy-nine thousand one hundred and ninety-
five persons were re-vaccinated against 114,163
last year.
7. The decrease is allocated as follows:—Presidency Circle 35,174
Gujarat Registration District 4,539 and Sind Registration District 1,167. There
was an increase in re-vaccinations by 897, 1,441 and 3,593, respectively, in the
Central, Western and Southern Registration Districts as compared with the
previous year.
8. The success rate of re-vaccinations was 58.14 per cent. This is
exclusive of the operations (some 43 per cent. of the total) in which the results
could not be ascertained.
Vaccination in Native States
(Appendix II, Statement I).
9. In Native States not dealt with in Appendix I or in the above paragraphs
there were 109,028 primary vaccinations of which
104,977 or 96.2 were seen to be successful. The
success rate excluding unknown results was 98.61 per
cent. Re-vaccinations numbered 3,919 against 10,693 during 1917-18. The
success rate excluding unknown results was 66.92 and the percentage of unknown
cases 27.48.
10. The total number of primary vaccinations including those in Native
States therefore amounts to 709,568 and the total of re-vaccinations to 83,114.
Vaccine Institute, Belgaum.
11. Fourteen lakhs ninety-six thousand six hundred and twenty doses
of vaccine were issued by the Belgaum Vaccine
Institute against 1,224,690 in the previous year. The
increased issue was due to the very heavy demands from Military Medical
Officers with the forces in and out of India 480,150 doses or over 3½ times
the total Military indent for the previous year were supplied. Details of
the results were not received but reports from medical officers even those
serving in places where the packets took weeks to arrive, testify to the
excellence of the lymph. The success of the Institute in delivering potent
lymph to meet these unusual and varying demands is much to the credit of the
Director and his staff.
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