4
The following table shows the successes claimed by vaccinators for primary and
secondary operations and those found on inspection by the inspecting staff and Civil
Surgeons:—
Vaccinators.
Primary.
98.47
Revaccination.
78.11
Inspecting staff.
Primary.
92.83
Re-vaccination.
61.53
Civil Surgeons
Primary.
97.07
Revaccination.
64.39
Vaccination in compulsory
areas.
11. In towns in which compulsory vaccination is enforced, 1,813 infants under
one year of age were successfully vaccinated during
1913-14, against 1,294 in 1912-13 and 1,530 in 1911-12.
The percentage of infants successfully vaccinated to
total number of infants available for vaccination was 78.2 in 1913-14, against 62 per
cent. in 1912-13 and 79 per cent. in 1911-12.
During the year 1913-14 almost all available infants were vaccinated in the towns
of Goalpara, Golaghat, Shillong and Dibrugarh. 93 per cent. of the available infants
were vaccinated in the town of Tezpur, in Nowgong 87.3 per cent., in Sylhet 82.8
per cent., in Dhubri 78.4 per cent., in Jorhat 71.5 per cent., in Sibsagar 61.2 per cent.,
in Silchar 51.8 per cent., in Gauhati in 46.6 per cent., and in Habiganj 4.7 per cent.
Last year the attention of Civil Surgeons was drawn to the unsatisfactory state of
infant vaccination in compulsory areas and the inspecting staff was directed to obtain
from the registrars of births a list of the names and addresses of all children born
within their registration circles and to follow the history of each child carefully until
it is successfully vaccinated. The town of Silchar is not well protected. The Civil
Surgeon points out that the existing arrangement under which the vaccinator does
the work of a clerk and of a typist in the Municipal Office is not satisfactory, and he
recommends that a whole-time vaccinator be appointed. The attention of the
Chairman will be drawn to this. During the year 1913-14, 53 notices were
issued to parents and guardians of children in the town of Silchar, 8 persons were
prosecuted and 1 was convicted. The remaining 7 were discharged on condition that
they would have their children vaccinated. In the same town 29 persons were
prosecuted and 22 convicted in 1911-12 and 1912-13. The Bengal Vaccination Act,
V of 1880, was extended to the Municipality of Habiganj in December 1913, a Munici-
pal vaccinator has been appointed, and it is hoped that protection will be afforded to
all infants next year. From January to March 90 primary vaccinations and 56 re-
vaccination operations were performed in this town.
Notices under the Act were served on defaulters in the towns of Dhubri and
Goalpara, and as a result of this the objectors yielded to vaccination. In the town of
Gauhati in 1913-14 out of a recorded birth-rate of 287 and an infant mortality of
38, only 116 children were vaccinated out of 249 who should upon theoretical calcu-
lations have been vaccinated. The attention of the Civil Surgeon was drawn to this
failure to carry out infant vaccinations, and it was pointed out that if the defect was
not remedied forthwith it would have an adverse effect on the health of the people.
The attention of the Civil Surgeon will again be drawn to this subject. The Deputy
Sanitary Commissioner has noted a reluctance on the part of the public to aid the
inspecting staff in verifying the results of vaccination work in this town, and it
appears that the importance of efficiency in this department of work is not sufficiently
realised.
In 1911-12, the Imperial Vaccination Act, XIII of 1880, was replaced by the
Bengal Vaccination Act, V of 1880, in the Sylhet, Gauhati, Dhubri, Goalpara, Nowgong
and Dibrugarh Municipalities. The Bengal Vaccination Act, V of 1880, has not yet
been extended to the Municipalities of Sunamganj and Karimganj and the Union of
Maulvi Bazar, and this should be done at an early date.
Vaccine Depôt.
12. The total number of capillary tubes loaded at the Animal Vaccine Depôt
at Shillong with lymph was 1,875,886 in 1913-14 as
compared with 1,819,859 in 1912-13 and 1,716,938 in
1911-12. 892 calves were inoculated in 1913-14 as compared with 962 in 1912-13
and 917 in 1911-12. The average cost of manufacturing lymph per tube during the
year 1913-14 was 2.1 pies as compared with 2.4 pies in 1912-13 and 2.05 pies
in 1911-12.