§ MR. P. A. TAYLORasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board, Whether he has received a Report of the result of the inquiry instituted by the Local Government Board in regard to a series of cases in which erysipelas had followed vaccination at Cardiff?
MR. GEORGE RUSSELLThe Local Government Board are aware, from a brief report in The British Medical Journal, that at a branch meeting of the British Medical Association in December last, a statement was made by a private medical practitioner as to certain cases in which erysipelas had followed vaccination. No particulars as to the names, &c, of the children vaccinated are given. It is not alleged that the children were vaccinated by a public vaccinator, nor is there any suggestion that the lymph was obtained from the National Vaccine Establishment. The Board have not received any communication on the subject of these cases from the medical practitioner by whom the vaccinations were performed, from any of the parents or relatives of the children who are stated to have suffered from erysipelas, or from any person residing in the locality. The Board, under these circumstances, have not directed any inquiry by one of their Inspectors. The gentleman by whom the statement was made at the meeting is not in any way subject to the jurisdiction of the Board, and the Board have no right to require him to give information as to his private patients.