Resolution on the Vaccination Report of Eastern Bengal and Assam for the
three years ending 1907-1908.
Extract from the Proceedings of the Lieutenant-Governor of Eastern Bengal and
Assam in the General Department, No. 5651 M., dated Shillong, the 12th
August 1908.
READ—
The Vaccination Reports of Eastern Bengal and Assam for three years, 1905-06 to 1907-08.
RESOLUTION.
VACCINATION operations during the past three years increased by nearly 5 per
cent., but the numbers varied considerably in each year. In 1905-06 1,429,026
operations were performed. In the following year the number fell to 1,318,032 and
in 1907-08 it rose to 1,358,644. The theory that greater activity follows a severe out-
break of small-pox is not borne out by these figures, as the death-rates from this disease
during the periods in question were .18, .24, and .28 per thousand. The total number
of vaccinations showed an increase of 192,000 as compared with the preceding
triennium, while primary vaccinations showed an increase of only 16,000. The large
increase in the number of revaccinations indicates a growing appreciation of the
benefits of the system. In the districts of Assam where, except in one district, paid
vaccinators are employed, an average of one vaccination for every 20.7 persons of
the population was performed during each of the three years ending 1907-08.
In the Eastern Bengal districts, where licensed vaccinators are employed, the
ratio was 1 to 22.9. The report refers to the disadvantages under which licensed
vaccinators work in some districts, where the population is sparse and the
people are poor. The Lieutenant-Governor will be prepared to consider proposals
for substituting in special localities a paid agency for men who depend on fees, though
it is not established that paid vaccinators are more efficient than a licensed staff. His
Honour notices that during the three years ending 1907-08 the total number of
operations in the Assam districts showed an increase of only .47 per cent, as com-
pared with that of the preceding three years, while in the Eastern Bengal districts
the increase was over 6 per cent. The increase during the three years of more than
100,000 operations in the Chittagong district is marked. The prejudice against
vaccination shown by the Ferazi Muhammadans in some of the Eastern Bengal districts,
by the Mahapurushiyas in Kamrup, and by some of the aboriginal tribes of Assam, is
gradually disappearing. The practice of inoculation, which was greatly favoured in
the Sylhet and Cachar districts, is rapidly dying out. By Notification No. 96J., dated
the 20th October 1905, the Bengal Council Act, IV of 1865 (an Act for the prohibition
of the practice of inoculation) was extended to the whole of the plains districts of
Assam, the vaccination and inspection staff being strengthened at the same time. In
the Cachar district, where considerable opposition was at first shown to the prohibition
of inoculation, the death-rate from small-pox fell from an average of 11.6 per
thousand during the three years ending 1904-05 to .008 during the three years ending
1907-08, the death-rate in 1907-08 being only .004 per thousand.
2. Inspection Agency.—Up to the close of the year 1906 the subordinate inspecting
staff in the plains districts of Assam was paid for and controlled by Local Boards, while
in Eastern Bengal the Inspectors formed a graded service paid by Government, and
were under the immediate control of the Civil Surgeon. The two services have since
been amalgamated on the lines of the system in force in the transferred districts, and
ten additional officers have been appointed, all charges being borne by Government.
Vaccinators reported that 97.32 per cent. of the primary vaccinations performed by
them in 1907-08 had been successful; the percentage is not improbable, as the
Deputy Sanitary Commissioner and Civil Surgeons, who inspected 68,000 cases, found
that 96.96 per cent. were successful. Glycerinated vaccine from the depôt at Shillong
is now supplied to all districts, and arm-to-arm vaccination, which was greatly favoured
in the Eastern Bengal districts in 1905, has ceased. The generally excellent results
are a tribute to the quality and efficiency of the vaccine supplied from the depôt, which
was under the control of Major Green, I.M.S., for the greater portion of the three
years.