[Maximum limit 4 pages.]
SHORT NOTES ON VACCINATION
FOR THE
YEAR 1908-09.
THE following are brief notes on Vaccination in Bengal for the year 1908-
1909.
Officer in charge of the Depart-
ment.
2. I was in charge of the Department through-
out the year.
Bengal and Orissa Circle.—Captain D. Munro, I.M.S., was in charge from
1st April 1908 to 24th November 1908 and Lieutenant-Colonel F. R. Ozzard,
I.M.S., from the 25th November 1908 to the end of the year.
Behar and Chota Nagpur Circle.—Captain W. C. Ross, I.M.S., held charge
all the year round..
Strength of staff.
3. In Calcutta the number of permanent inspecting officers and operators
was 7 and 28 against the same number of 1907-08,
but 26 temporary vaccinators were appointed during
the year to cope with the large number of vaccinations and re-vaccinations that
had to be done for the suppression of small-pox which prevailed epidemically
from the latter part of December last.
In provincial rural areas, and mufassal municipalities and dispensaries, etc.,
the inspecting staff and operators, including apprentices, numbered 164 and
2,407, and 8 and 172 against 163 and 2,416, and 7 and 165 respectively of the
previous year.
General operations.
4. The total number of operations performed in the province during the
year, excluding the Tributary State of Pal Lahara
in the Orissa Division, the figures for which were
sent too later for inclusion in this report, was 2,241,576, of which 1,936,869
were primary and 304,707 re-vaccination against 2,058,371 with 1,868,290
primary and 190,081 re-vaccination cases of 1907-08. Thus, there was a total
increase of 183,205, viz., 68,579 in primary and 114,626 in re-vaccination cases,
which considering the scarcity at places is very satisfactory. The total number
of vaccinations shown above corresponds with the total number of persons
vaccinated, as all operations which are repeated are excluded both from the
" total number of vaccinations" and from the " total number of persons
vaccinated" until the results of the repetitions are known, when they are
entered as one and the same cases. Under the orders of the Government of
India, Home Department, No. 170, dated the 29th January 1909 the repetition
cases will in future be shown as so many different vaccinations. This will
increase the percentage of failures, while the proportion of successfully vacci-
nated children will remain the same.
The ratio of success under the two different heads in rural areas and
municipalities was 99.37 and 62.24, and 98.60 and 60.39 respectively, against
99.34, 74.40, 98.65 and 68.70 of 1907-08.
Out of the 34 districts in Bengal there was an increase of operations in 25
and decrease in only 9 districts. The increase is most noticeable in the
Tributary States of Orissa where it amounted to 90,628, while Cuttack
contributed 17,224 to it, Palamau 14,390, Midnapore 13,688, Burdwan
11,614, 24-Parganas 9,345, Saran 7,625, Sonthal Parganas 6,878, Balasore
6,080, and Howrah 6,033. The principal decrease occurred in 4 districts,
viz. Darbhanga 14,156, Ranchi 7,886, Hazaribagh 7,657 and Bhagalpore
5,248. In Cuttack the increase is due to the appointment of a larger number
of vaccinators, to better organization of work and the efforts of the Special
Inspector of Vaccination for Orissa. In Palamau, Howrah, the Sonthal
Parganas, Midnapore and the 24-Parganas it is accounted for by the increased
prevalence of small-pox which roused the inspecting staff to greater activity.
In Saran also, a similar cause was at work, but considering the high prices of