2
RESOLUTION ON THE REPORT ON VACCINATION IN BURMA
proportion of the population protected. It should be remembered, however, that
the increase shown in the proportion of protected persons is to some extent ficti-
tious because the proportion is based year after year on the same population statis-
tics, those of the census of 1891, and makes no allowance for the growth of popula-
tion during the current decade. Simultaneous with the increase in primary vacci-
nation the returns show a great decline in revaccinations, partly due, it appears,
to the incorrect classification amongst revaccinations in past years of cases
which were revaccinations only in the sense that the first operation was inefficient
and had to be repeated. A falling off in revaccinations properly so called is no
matter for regret. It is desired that vaccinators should, as far as possible, confine
their energies to primary operations until they have overtaken the annual increase
of the population by births, and this goal is still far ahead except in the large
towns. The percentage of success in revaccinations in Upper Burma during the
past year is remarkably high. The Chief Commissioner hesitates to accept the
classification, especially in the Mandalay cases (641), of which over 90 per cent.
are returned as successful. In primary cases the increased percentage of success-
is satisfactory. It is, Mr. Smeaton trusts, an indication that men of a better
stamp are being employed as vaccinators and that Civil Surgeons are devoting
more care to the supply of active lymph. Success in vaccination work must
always depend mainly on these considerations and they should be kept constantly
in view.
3. In reviewing the triennial report for the period 1890-91 to 1892-93 the
Government of India called attention to the large number of children left unpro-
tected in rural tracts and to the discouraging results of the working of the
department in Lower Burma generally. Steps were then taken for widening, the
scope of the department in rural areas in Lower Burma, the increased expenditure
being met in most cases from the District cess funds, assisted by subsidies from
provincial funds in the case of districts, such as Sandoway, where the cess funds
are small. The results of this action are summarized in the table printed above.
The number of vaccinators in Lower Burma is now twice as great as in 1892-93
and there has been a nearly corresponding increase in the outturn of work. The
Upper Burma staff also has been considerably increased, but it must be still
further increased if the benefits of vaccination are to be, as they ought to
be, widely diffused. But even in Lower Burma, though great strides have been
made in recent years, the quantity of vaccination work still falls short of what
is really necessary, especially among the infant population. During 1895 the
number of births recorded in Lower Burma was 131,147. If from this figure
the number of deaths of children under one year old (21,989) is deducted, there
remained 1,09,158 infants available for vaccination, and this figure, it should be
noted, is almost certainly below the truth, for it is admitted that many births escape
registration. The report under review shows that (inclusive of dispensary vaccina-
tions) only 41,107 children in their first year were successfully vaccinated during
1895-96. It appears therefore that only four children were protected out of every
ten available for vaccination, or more accurately about 38 per cent., and this esti-
mate as noted above takes no account of unregistered births, and moreover the
aggregate number, 41,107, probably includes many infants left unvaccinated from
the previous year. As might be expected, the deficiency in infant vaccination
is for the most part confined to the villages. It is only in municipal towns and