The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-04-13
PROTEST AGAINST
''SCAR|NG PEOPLE"
DIR. HARRY BAKER TAKES ISSUE
ON VACCINATION.
REVIEWS ITS HISTORY
PHYSICIAN quotes STATISTICS TO
sLBSTANTATE HIS OPPOSITION
To EVACUATION WITH no
VINE VIRUS.

Vaccination, which has in Health
Officer Levy Il stalwart champion, has
in DIR. Harry b. Baker. OF / East
Grace street. toeman worthy OF Ats
steel"
DIR. Levy declared several days ago
that vaccination was almost com
ptete preventative OF smallpox" lie
did not go into the details of the elias
ticity of almost" DIR. Baker, III ii
statement which he brought to The
Nirginian office Wednesday, goes con-
siderably into detail. The physician
quotes statistics which he believes
prove conclusively that vaccination Is
Tar from being q preventative OF
smallpox. Whether they furnish CON
elusive evidence 70 the average man 5
mind of the failure of vaccination to
do. what 1t is employed to accomplish
or not. a perusal of the facts AID
figures compiled by DR.. Baker viii
doubtless cause considerable question
as to the efficacy of innoculation or
human beings with vaccine virus
DIR. Bakers statement follows:
DIR. Levy, our chief health officer.
has stated recently In the papers that
he is astonished at the lack OF inter-
est manifested in being innoculated
with vaccine virus shown by the peo-
Il think / can explain the cause
of this lack Of interest. 1t is largely
due To the fact that he common sense
OF the people revolts at the idea OF
in jecting pus from a sore on a COW.
Wfilch is what the present form or
vaccination is, directly into their
blood with all of the possible evn
results which may ensuc.
ITO justify such an operation SO
contrary to all of the laws OF mod
ern aseptic surgical procedure very
strong reasons should be given. DIR.
Levy claims that innoculation with
vaccine virus is almost an absolute
preventive" agatnstusmallpex.
in view OF this statement 1t would
be we'll for DR.. Levy to explain to the
people some of the following incon-
trovertible facts:
In the first. place, while England.
the home country OF vaccination, pass
ed compulsory vaccination Jaw in
1853. yet during the great epidemic
OF smallpox eighteen years later, IN
1871 to 1879. as many as 42.220 peo-
pie died Of smallpox. the majority OF
whom had been yaccinated.
T I'm Bavaria In the same epidemic
there were 30,742 cases of smallpox,
29.429 Of which were in vaccinated
persons. Furthermore. the Bavarian
contingent of the German army,
which was revaccinated without es-
ception. had five times the death rate
from smallpox than the BavarIan
civil population had. although revac-
cination was not obligatory among
the latter.
I'm the United States army in the
Philippines. all OF the members OF
which We're vaccinated from one to
hot
and 1901 on mean strength of A.
600 men. GA smallpox cases and 249
deaths.
"Tn Japan where revaccination as
well as special epidemic vaccination is
compulsory. there were one hundred
and seventy-two thousand cases of
smallpox in the last twenty years,
forty eight thousand of which were
fatal.
Again. III Japan in 1908, there were
eighteen thousand cases of smallpox
with five thousand eight hundred
deaths.
IN Leicester, which In 1871, was one
OF the best vaccinated cities In Eng
land. with a population of less than
one hundred, thousand. they had sew
eral thousand cases of smallpox with
three hundred and forty-six deaths.
This result So Disguised the people Of
Leicester with vaccination as a pre-
ventive. that they decided to give il
up. which they did with the follow
ing consequences; Leicester has since
that time had less smallpox than any
other large city ian England. and while
the population has increased from one
hundred thousand in 1871 to two
hundred and fifty thousand in 1909. the
death rate from all diseases has grad
ually fallen from rs per thousand in
1871 to II per thousand In 1908.
Leicester gave up vaccination. but took
up sanitation. The city was thor
oughly cleaned up. and a strict sys-
ten of isolation and quarantine es-
tablished. Smallpox has been brought
into Leicester number Of times in
the last forty years. but 1t has never
spread to any extent. though the ma
jority OF the population was not vac
cinated. and the death rate OF such
cases as did develop was only four per
cent,