The courier-index., 1917-08-31

| luJlOn ana DatheS the arm thoroughly |
| with alcohol a few minutes before |
vaccination, using a new point with |
each vaccination, and puts on a
clean, sterile dressing, which protects |
! the vaccination from dirt and irrita- |
ton, there is practically no danger. |
have vaccinated considerable num-
Der myself and | have talked with a |
number of doctors relative to this |
| question, and | can state that !
have never seen a vaccination sore |
that really endangered the life of
arm of the patient, nor have talked |
to any doctor who had ever seen such |
| a case. OF course it is possible for |
the patient to infect his arm in spite
of all that the doctor can do, but
even in such cases of extreme care
lessness and disregard for the doc
tors instructions, statistics show that
death is very rare. In such infected
cases there is only ONE death in
SIXTY FIVE THOUSAND. In Ger
many, where vaccination is strictly
enforced and records of all vaccina-
tions correctly kept, there were only
|
Ontario, Canada, reports 10000 vacci-
nations without death Many more
figures could be cited but these
should suffice to convince all fair
minded persons that vaccination,
when properly done, is no more dan
gerous than stumping a toe or the
prick of a small briar If it were
|
nate themselves or their families.
Argument Two. Does vaccination
prevent small pox? When properly
done and when repeated at proper
intervals, Yes. 1t is true that few
cases of small pox do develop among
persons who have been, or think
they have been successfully vacci-
mated. Investigation of these cases
will show practically every case that
the patient was either not success
fully vaccinated, or that he was vac
cinated more than five years before
he contracted small pox. He may
have had a good size sore at the
time of his vaccination, but 1t may
have been a sore from infection OF
the scratch by outside germs and
not from the vaccine. This would
not be successful vaccination but
simply an ordinary sore. | know OF
one negro who "vaccinated" his sis
ter with the tooth of a comb and
produced a good sized sore, which he
thought was a successful vaccination.
although there was no vaccine on
the tooth. A sore following vaccina-
ton does not necessarily mean sue
cessful vaccination. To be success
full it must have certain definite char
! acteristics. The average layman
: would not be able to recognize these,
cases msfolla etaoin shrdlu atoiOiini
and is to be excused if he sometimes
mistakes a sore from infection for
successful vaccination.
If one contracts small pOx more
than five or six years after his last
successful vaccination, it is no more
than what would be expected, be-
cause no well informed doctor con-
tends that vaccination will protect
for life. The most that is claimed
for it is that it will protect for from
five to seven years. In many cases
itdoes protect for much longer
7 periods, but it is not safe to depend
on that.
Chicago vaccinates its children be-
r fore they are allowed to enter school,
! and the records of that city show
] that among it's 265,00O school child
rem there have occurred only seven
cases of small pox in ten years, and
all of these entered school with
false certificate of vaccination. No
vaccinated child in the Chicago
schools has had small pox in the last
ten years, although there is small
box in the city among adults almost
every year, and epidemics occurred
in 1894 and 1895. In 1907 the United
States began compulsory vaccination
in the six provinces around Manila
These provinces have population
of about 100000 and from the remot'
est time had had a death loss OF
about 5000 per year from small pox
Since 1907 not one person has died
of small pox who mad been success
fully vaccinated and only few scat
= tering cases have occurred Small
box is rare in countries which en-
force vaccination, but is much more
frequent in countries which do not
enforce it. For example: from 1898
| to 1898 there were 275,502 deaths in
Russia from small pox. During the
same period there were 2S7 deaths
from small pox in Germany. Russia
does not have compulsory vaccination
but Germany does During this same
period Spain had 23,SS1 deaths from
small pox, Hungary had 12,241, Aus
tria had 11U00 and Italy 1l,O00.
These countries do not force, vacci-
nation. Japan, which does enforce
vaccination, although it has popu-
L hnI alrr four