§ MR. HOPWOODasked the President of the Local Government Board, If he will inquire into the case of a child named Emily Agnes Henning, of 273, Mayall Road, Herne Hill, aged four months, who was vaccinated on the 25th July, was, within three days, attacked with symptoms of blood poisoning, and died in great suffering on August 15th; whether he is aware that the certificate of death stated the cause to be Erysipelas P. Convulsions S. without mentioning vaccination; and, whether he will cause an inquiry into the circumstances satisfactory to the parents?
MR. GEORGE RUSSELLSir, the child was vaccinated on the 25th of July by Mr. Niall, who is not a public vaccinator, and was not attacked with symptoms of blood poisoning within three days after vaccination. The vaccination ran its normal course, and the result on the eighth day after vaccination was regarded as satisfactory by the medical man who had vaccinated the child. One of the vesicles, however, became broken through the rubbing of a piece of muslin, and following on this occurrence a blush of the nature of erysipelas appeared on the arm. This was on the ninth, and not the third day after vaccination. This subsequently spread, and the child died three weeks after vaccination. Having regard to the history 1735 of the case, and to the date when the inflammatory blush first appeared, it would seem that death resulted from the absorption of some septic matter by the surface of the broken vesicle, and not from the vaccination itself, which, apart from the accident to the vesicle, was running its normal course. Under these circumstances, the primary, and secondary causes of death are, in the Board's opinion, correctly stated in the certificate; and the Board see no sufficient reason for further inquiry.