REPORT ON VACCINATION IN THE MADRAS
PRESIDENCY FOR THE TRIENNIUM
ENDING 1925-26.
In the Vaccination Reports for the last three years, reference has been made
to the desirability of transferring to District Boards the administration of vacci-
nation in rural areas. In G.O. No. 2304, P.H., Mis., dated 13th November 1925,
the Government, however, declined to accept this proposal, and the control of
vaccination is still vested in Taluk and Union Boards, except in the Nilgiri
district. The existing arrangement has numerous disadvantages. The policy of
the individual Taluk Boards of the same district frequently varies to such an
extent that the District Health Officer meets with administrative difficulties which
would never arise if the control were vested in a single authority. Secondly, the
inequalities in the pay and allowances of the vaccinators employed by different
Taluk Boards cause difficulties in the transfer of vaccinators from one Taluk
Board to another and prevent the exaction of a uniform standard of work. Other
defects will be mentioned in later paragraphs of this report, but so much incon-
venience has been experienced that almost every District Health Officer has
pressed for the transfer of the control of vaccination to the District Board. For
this reason, the question deserves reconsideration at the hands of Government.
2. Glycerine lymph, which was introduced as an experimental measure
during the triennium ending 1922-23, was found to give such consistently
satisfactory results that the manufacture of lanoline lymph was entirely given up
from 1923.
3. Revised instructions for the use of vaccine lymph were issued to all
officers of the department in the annexure to G.O. No. 241, P.H., dated 4th
February 1926.
4. In 1925 and 1926, the vaccine lymph department of the King Institute
carried out detailed investigation in connexion with the varying month-war
success rates in each district over a series of years. It was found that certain
changes in the prescribed off-season were essential if the most satisfactory results
were to be obtained. The proposals made in this connexion by this office in
consultation with the Director, King Institute, were approved by the Government
in G.O No. 279, P.H., Mis., dated 12th February 1926, and the alterations have
now been brought into force.
5. The vaccination off-season, as usual, was utilized for the scrutiny of vital
statistics and vaccination records, and the detection of unregistered births and
deaths and unprotected children. A great deal of work was done in this direction
in 1925-26, e.g., nearly 22,000 unregistered unprotected children were discovered
in Coimbatore district and 15,000 in North Arcot. The cases detected in other
districts, although not so numerous, amounted in toto to many thousands.
Whilst this is creditable to the Public Health staff, it is direct proof of the bad
work of registering officers, whether village headmen or presidents of union
boards. If these cases had not been detected, it is probable that a large number
would have fallen victims to smallpox. It may also be pointed out in this con-
nexion that registration work is often deliberately neglected because the regis-
trars are confident that shortcomings will be made good by the Public Health
staff. This pernicious practice should be taken severe notice of by the officers
of the Revenue Department.
As regards union boards, many fail to maintain their registers correctly and
do not co-operate with the Public Health staff in connexion with the issue of the
required notices to parents and guardians and the prosecution of defaulters. In
addition, some few disown their responsibility and refuse to recognize the