Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-12-06
WHEN VACCINATION
FAILS TO TAKE

a child have failed, the child should |
not be debarTed from school privileges /
but should be admitted and the de- |
partment of health has provided for
this" said State Health Commission
er Samuel G.. Dixon in an interview
today.
1.-The supreme court of Pennsylvania |
called attention in the recent opinion |
it handed down reatfirming the valid
ity of the SO called vaccination law of |
June IS, 1895, to the hardship involv
ed in the 18th section of that act when |
it is beyond the power of children OF |
school age to be yaccinated although |
they may not previously have had |
smallpox nor previously been vaccinat
ed that even repeated attempts to per |
form the operation upon such children
are without effect and vaccination
will not take. In such cases, as the |
court points out, the physician can not
certify that such child has been sue
cessfully vaccinated so as to meet the |
requirements of admission to school. |
The courts decision suggested the pos
sibility of the health authorities, State |
or local, making regulation setting /
forth the condition under which |
child upon whom vaccination will not |
take should be permitted to attend |
school The court also suggests that |
the health authorities would have to |
consider whether such a regulation |
would be undesirable as affording op- |
portunity for the evasion of the sta |
tute.
THE DEPARTMENTS METHOD. |
1.-The department of health, con-
tinued health commissioner Dixon, |
81 has taken this tendency to evade the !
law into consideration as it was oblig- |
ed to do, and yet we have endeavored |
to see that those children who could |
not be vaccinatad should be admitted |
to school. Our method of accomplish i,
ing from the first has been as follows
"When the cases that we received |
inquiry about were within the limits |
of borough or city having board of |
health of its own, we suggested that
after two unsuccessf' attempts to vac
cinate child, the tlird attempt be
made by or in the presence of the phy-
siciau of the board of health If this
attempt failed, then the physician of
the board acting in his official cap
acity should authorize the admission
of the child.
IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS.
In the rural districts where there
are no boards of health to pass upon
such cases, | have always asked that
after three unsuccessful attempts to
| vaccinate a child have been made, the
name of the child and the physician
| who made the attempts be referred
| Immediately to the State department
of health. The cases have then been
at once investigated by our county
medical inspectors or some one deput-
| lied by them so that the child might
not unjustly be debarred from school
privileges These methods of dealing
with the situation have been in con-
| formity with the supreme court 5 sug-
gestion that the health authorities as
sumo the responsibility of authorizing
| the admission to school of children
upon whom after a reasonable number
of attempts, vaccination does not take.
Taking advantage of the spirit of
| this part of the supreme courts opln-
| ion, we have also endeavored to deal
| with the cases of children where there
was reason to believe that the child's
| physical condition did not make vac
| cination at the present time advis
able The attorney general of the State
had given an opinion that a teacher
was not authorized to accept certific-
ate from a physician, stating that the
child was not in physical condition
| to be vaccinated. 1t is reasonable to
| believe, however, that although the
simple giving of such a certificate by
the family physician would not be
|
courts opinion would permit the re-
cognized health authorities throughout
| the State, after careful investigation,
to pass upon such cases.
IBOARDS OF HEALTH THE JUDGES
| Therefore, when such cases are
now brought to the attention of our
| 4 10
inside borough or city limits, the local
board of health, through its physician,
| decide whether the child is we'll
enough to attend school and yet not in
a fit condition to be vaccinated. In
the districts where there are no
boards of health we are having such
cases Investigated and passed upon by
our regular county medical inspectors
1T will thus be seen," concluded
DR.. Dixon, that the State department
of health is doing everything possible
to prevent any child from being un-
Justly deprived of its schooling. If the
parent or guardian, however, refuses
to permit the child to he vaccinated
simply through prejudice, the health
authorities certainly lave no power
to interfere with the operation OF the
law. In such cases we have done ev-
erything we could to overcome this
prejudice by education so that the in
nocent child might not be made to
suffer because the parent decided to
leave it exposed TO the rayages of small
which the legislature Of Pennsylvania,
in the exercise of its police power has
made one of the requisites of admis.
sion to school "