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NOTES ON VACCINATION IN ASSAM FOR THE YEAR 1921-22.
1. Introductory.—Major J. Taylor, D. S.O., I.M.S., was in charge of the department
from 1st April 1921 to 4th July 1921, Captain S. R. Rao, Assistant Director of Public
Health, from 5th July 1921 to the 21st August 1921, and myself from 22nd August
1921 to the 31st March 1922.
2. Vaccination Agencies.—As usual, the vaccination work in the plains districts
was carried out by vaccinators paid by local bodies and in the hills by vaccinators paid
from provincial revenues. The total number of vaccinators employed during the
year, viz., 448, was almost the same as in the previous year, there being two less in
Sylhet and Kamrup and one more in Lakhimpur. In tea gardens, dispensaries, jails
and lunatic asylum, the vaccination operations were performed by their respective
medical staff
of operations.—The total number of vaccination operations
ce during the year 1921-22 was 367,548 as compared with
ving a decrease of 51,388 operations, due to the non-co-opera-
trict variations are discussed in paragraph 8 of the report.
s performed by the different agencies was as follows:—
as by departmental vaccinators,
s by dispensary staff.
by tea-garden agencies.
by Jail, Asylum, Police and Coolie depôt hospitals.
ns by railway agency.
etutns from small-pox.—The ratio of mortality from small-pox per 1,000 of
population was .35 as compared with .24 in the previous year. The highest rate of
2.38 was reported from the Darrang district, where certain villages in the Mangaldai
subdivision were heavily affected. The epidemic which broke out towards the end
of the year 1920-21 continued up to May 1921, when it subsided. The next highest
rates of .48 and .40 were reported from the districts of Goalpara and Nowgong respec-
tively. The cases in the former district were sporadic, while in the latter an epidemic
occurred among communities which oppose vaccination, and the help of the District
Magistiate had to be invoked to deal with it. The Civil Surgeon, Lakhimpur, reports
that the presence of small-pox induced many ' Muttacks,' who are conscientious objec-
tors, to accept vaccination, and a large number of them were vaccinated.
5. Dispensary vaccination.—Of the 865 operations done by the dispensary staff,
597 were primary and 268 were re-vaccinations, as against 2,106 with 1,017 primary
and 1,089 re-vaccination in the previous year. The decrease needs no comment, as
operations by this agency are not encouraged, villages around dispensaries being
allotted to vaccinators, and only those who prefer to be done by the dispensary staff
attend for the purpose.
6. Percentage of successful operations.—The percentage of success for all agents
combined, in the case of primary operations was 94.82 and of re-vaccinations was
58.58, as compared with 94.93 and 65.01, respectively, in the previous year. The
percentage of success in primary operations, viz., 89.01, reported from the Garo Hills
district is much below that of the provincial average, and the Civil Surgeon who
inspected 1,204 cases, i.e., more than the number inspected by the Sub-Inspector,
found the percentage of success to be 93.60. The percentage of success in primary
operations, viz., 73.01,reported from the Sadiya Frontier Tract is much below that of
the provincial average and the success in re-vaccination, viz., 91.35 reported from
the same district is unreliably high. Both figures require investigation. The per-
centages of success in re-vaccinations reported from Naga Hills of 87.57 and from
Nowgong of 83.42 are high.
7. Different methods of vaccination.—All vaccinations were performed with
glycerinated lymph manufactured in the Vaccine Depôt at Shillong.
8. Vaccination work in different districts.—The Khasi and Jaintia Hills and
Nowgong are the only districts in which the number of operations performed
during the year 1921-22 exceeded that of the previous year, the increase being
2,509 and 2,001, respectively. In all other districts there was a fall, the decrease
being most marked in Sylhet (—11,669), Kamrup (—11,556), Naga Hills (—7,799),
Manipur (—7,272), Sibsagar (—5,673) and Goalpara (—4,225), the cause in the plains