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submission of reports, amounts almost to criminal neglect, as by the time
information reaches the public health staff the disease has frequently assumed
unmanageable proportions. This should be brought home to the minds of village
headmen and the subordinates primarily responsible for notification.
(e) An obstacle to the progress of vaccination which is of recent origin,
at any rate as far as this Presidency is concerned, but which neither the Public
Health Department nor local bodies can afford to ignore, is the activity of anti-
vnccinationists, although their presence has so far been felt only in one district.
Whilst ignoring the history of smallpox in this country prior to and subsequent
to the introduction of vaccination, they present sensational propaganda full of
perverted statements and statistics, which cannot but have effect on the minds of
the ordinary credulous villager unless an active counter-propaganda campaign
is carried on. It has been represented by several Health Officers that their
propaganda work is greatly handicapped for want of magic lanterns and slides.
This equipment is not only necessary if the education of the people in health
matters is to extend, but will be a very useful aid to district officers in their
attempts to defeat anti-vaccinationists' activities.
10. Notwithstanding these disabilities, the number of vaccination operations
performed during the year, namely, 2,033,997, is probably the highest figure
recorded in the history of the Presidency. The sub-joined statement gives figures
for the last three years :—
—
Primary Vaccination (including
secondary) ... … … …
Re-vaccinntions … … …
Total ...
1922-23.
1,436,041
325,533
1,761,624
1023-24.
1,565,706
346,859
1,912,565
1924-25.
1,573,032
460,965
2,033,997
The continuous increase is in no small measure due to the activities of the
District Health Staffs, chiefly in the direction of closer supervision of vaccinators'
work, detection of unprotected children during the off-season and extensive and
persistent propaganda work.
11. Vaccination in districts.—Excluding Madras, increases were recorded in
17 districts and decreases in 8 districts, as compared with 1923-24. Of the
former, the most prominent instances are Guntūr (+23,321), Gōdāvari ( + 17,636),
Ganjām (+13,924), Salem (+12,904), Agency Tracts (+9,418), South Arcot
(+8,508), Chingleput (+7,366), Madura (+5,270) and South Kanara ( + 5,026).
The increases in Guntūr, Gōdāvari and Salem were largely due to intensive
campaigns conducted during the epidemics of smallpox which prevailed. In the
remaining districts, the increases were effected by raising the minima of
vaccinators and by the employment of additional staff.
Districts which showed a decrease include Malabar ( - 25,782), Rāmuād
(-5,022), Tanjore (-4,691), Cuddapah (-3,969), Vizagapatam (-2,314),
Trichinopoly (-1,778), Anantapur (- 1,056), and Kurnool (-281). The fall in
the number of operations in Malabar district is explained by the Health Officer as
chiefly due to the absence of smallpox in epidemic form and because in
1923-24, during a severe epidemic, over 30,000 vaccinations were done in the off
season as compared with 3,170 vaccinations during the year under report when
smallpox was sporadic. It is pointed out by him that if allowance is made for
this, the outturn does not compare unfavourably with that of the previous year.
The decreases in Rāmuād and Anantapur are attributed to the extensive
epidemics of cholera which diverted the attention of the subordinate staff. In
Tanjore and Trichinopoly districts the work of the health staff was greatly
dislocated as a consequence of the floods. The decrease in Cuddapah is due to
the absence of one-third of the vaccination staff on leave, the reluctance and, in
some instances, the refusal of the taluk boards to appoint substitutes, and lastly
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