The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1902-02-13
ABOUT VACCINATION
No General Compulsory Vaccination
Statute In this State
SMALLPOX ON ORCAs
Two Mild Cases Near West sound-Orig-
mated at Whatcom-Patients Advtncd
by the Whatoom Health Oflicer to
"GQ Home

The prevalence OF smallpox in many
localities in the state has led to numer-
Gus inquiries as to the authority which
the law vests in public officials to CON-
pei vaccination and establish and Ell
force effective quarantine regulations.
The opinion of attarneys generally
seems to be that the law makes practic-
ally no provision for ENFORCING even
the simplest PREVENTIVE measures.
1t is the opinion of the attorney-gen-
eral of the state that school directors,
except in oities of 10000 people or more,
have no authority to COMPEL the vac
cination of pupils or require their re-
moval from sohaol in the event of the
refusal Of their parents or guardians to
permit them to be vaccinated. In this
day aud age Of the world, when the
value OF vaccination as q preventive
of smallpox has been established 10y an
Overwhelming weight Of evidence ad-
duced from the most careful Ooserva-
tons and mOrtuary statistics in the
principal cities and hospitals of both
himisplieres, it is not easy to pardon
such y sin Of omission as the lawmak-
ers Of this state have been guilty of in
failing To enact II compulsory vaccina-
ton statute. Their neglect, however,
makes it none the less incumbent upon
every community to voluntarily adopt
for its protection the preventive and
remedial measures which the law
should compel.
Il According To the American supple
ment to the Encyclopedias britannica,
"rhe protection of q successful vac
cination against smallpox is absolute
for the time being; yet accumulative
evidence goes to prove that this protec-
ton is not permanent, and that revac-
cination is necessary thoroughly to
protect the individual and the COM
munity, To insure perfect immunity
from the ravages Of smallpox it Is
therefore necessary to revaccinate
every person from time to time. Re-
vaccination was first praoticed i'm Ger
many and has ever since continued to
be- Systematically performed there.
During the Franco.Prussian war small
pox prevailed to All alarming extent,
and botl, oontendimg armies were free
ly eXposed 10 tile OnntagiOn. But the
loss by death from smallpox in the
German army was only 28a men,
whereas the loss in the French army
was "a, ,468 men, and the French army
was ut any time only half the size OF
the German. In joining the French
army vaccination was not u prerequis-
lite, and revaccilation WAS by no means
compulsory; but In Germany 1t was
compulsory. Among l4,2S4 revaccin-
ated soldiers hi Wurtemberg only one
case Of smallpox occurred In five years,
and only three cases among 26.964 re-
vaccinated civilians. During three Sc
we're epidemics Of smallpox in Copen-
hagen between the years of 1923 and
1885 not even u single instance ofvario-
loid was observed among any who had
been revaccinated.
"The medical superintendent OF the
several smallpox hospitals in London
report that during the period from 1875
to 1879, when IL, ,4l2 cases Of smallpox
occurred among the vaccinated persons
(vaccinated in infancy, not one case
was known to occur In any person who
had been successfully revaccinated.
They also report that not a single EN-.
ploye or attendant who had been re-
vaccinated before entering on duty IN
the smallpox hospitals had suffered
with the disease. These are official re.
ports which ought to be needed.