3
Inspectors 106,235 and 14,002 and Superintendents of Vaccination 390,444 and
100,352, respectively. The percentage of success verified by Civil Surgeons
and Health Officers was 94.87 in primary and 76.50 in re-vaccination, as
compared with 93.38 and 48.04 and 97.16 and 75.45 found by Divisional In-
spectors and Superintendents, respectively. The rates of success reported by
vaccinators were 98.19 in primary and 76.95 in re-vaccination as against 95.10
and 71.88 in the year preceding.
Vaccination in large
Native States.
14. The number of primary vaccinations and re-vaccinations perform-
ed in 1917-18 in those Native States which entertain their own vaccinators was
as follows :- Patiala 47,940 and 22,855, Bahawalpur 5,532 and 98, Kapurthala
3,030 and 196 and Nabha 250 primary vaccinations. There was a decrease
in the total number of persons vaccinated as compared with the work for the
previous year. The percentage of successful primary vaccination was 98.79 in
Patiala, 92.81 in Bahawalpur, 98.91 in Kapurthala and 72.40 in Nabha.
In the case of re-vaccination the percentage of success was 63.58 in Patiala,
67.35 in Bahawalpur and 62.76 in Kapurthala. No vaccination statements for
the year under report were received from the Jind and Faridkot Native States,
Vaccination
in
municipal towns.
15. Eighty-five per cent. of the total number of children under one
year of age available for operation were successfully vaccinated in the towns
in which the Vaccination Act is in force as against 64 per cent in those towns
in which it was not in force, the corresponding rates for the previous year
being 8i and 59 per cent. In the three largest towns of the province the
percentage of successfully vaccinated children was 129 in Lahore, 90 in Amrit¬
sar and 60 in Multan as compared with 101, 74 and 72, respectively, in 1916-17.
In Lahore after deducting infantile deaths from births the number of children
available was 5,276 and of those successfully vaccinated it was 6,832, this
number no doubt, includes children born elsewhere but residing within the
limits of the municipality at the time of vaccination.
In some districts of the Punjab several persons refused to have their
children vaccinated and the names of such persons were communicated to
local authorities for information.
The Deputy Commissioner, Hissar, remarks as follows :—
" As regards prosecuting defaulters in Sirsa and elsewhere I do not
think prosecutions should be recommended unless the municipal committee
wants to prosecute. In Sirsa it did not, and I upheld this point of view. Local
bodies must be allowed to live their own life in their own way. The same
thing applies to making vaccination compulsory in the bigger towns. I have
discussed this matter with several of the leading men. They say ' Vaccina-
tion is doubtless good, but why should we be forced to adopt it if we don't
like.' If we are trying to introduce self-Government we must let people
live their own life, and in this district at any rate compulsory vaccination is
not wanted yet. "
Put the Deputy Commissioner overlooks the fact that his district, if not
properly protected, is likely to be a menace to the whole Province, and that
Government recognises this by favouring the introduction of compulsion in such
municipalities as ask for it. It is well known that in towns where there is no
compulsion it is extremely difficult to get people to bring their children for
vaccination except when an epidemic is actually in their midst. The fact
that the people he has discussed it with say "it is doubtless good " proves
that it is not that they are adverse to the operation on grounds that appeal
to the conscience, as in Europe, but on those that are purely selfish or such
as appeal to the spirit of procrastination that is one of the curses of India.
It is no doubt the case that the Hissar people are more ignorant than those
of some other districts, but there are sections that are advanced and they
should be permitted to speak for the rest and do what they know is best for
all.
During the year the Vaccination Act, XIII of 1880, was extended to the
municipal towns of Sirsa, Panipat, Jagraon, Gurdaspur, Kamalia, Pakpattan,
Chiniot, Jampur, Dajal, Rajanpur and Kot Mithan.