§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that patients have been recently removed to the hospital ships belonging to the Metropolitan Asylums Board from two houses in Shoreditch, and that, after an interval of a fortnight, in one case five children, and in the other four children, were similarly removed from the same houses; whether he is aware that in neither case were the children re-vaccinated after the first outbreak in the house, and that out of these nine children five had never been vaccinated; and whether, in view of the fact that, pending the inquiry by the Royal Commission, some Poor Law Guardians and Police Magistrates in London decline to enforce the Vaccination Acts, he proposes to take any steps to protect the Metropolis from the dangers of a serious outbreak of smallpox?
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. RITCHIE, Tower Hamlets, St. George's)I have made inquiry as to the facts, and I find that they are as stated by my hon. Friend. There have, for some time past, been occasional cases of smallpox occurring in different parts of London. I have been strongly impressed with the great importance of the Local Authorities taking the most energetic measures with the view of preventing the spread of infection when these cases occur, and in May last I wrote to the Vestry of the Parish of Shoreditch and to the several other Vestries in the Metropolis asking them specially to instruct their Medical Officer of Health in every case of smallpox which might be notified to him or 973 which might come to his knowledge immediately to visit the house where the disease had broken out, and at the earliest possible moment to take such measures as might be necessary to secure as far as practicable the isolation of the patient, the vaccination of any persons who might have been exposed to infection, and the disinfection of the premises, and any further action which the circumstances admitted of for the purpose of checking the extension of the disease. I am informed that the Medical Officer of Health reported to the vaccination officer the outbreak of smallpox in the two houses referred to, and that the vaccination officer immediately visited the inmates and urged them to obtain vaccination and re-vaccination. Unfortunately his warning appears to have been disregarded. I learn that an arrangement has been made for vaccination daily of urgent cases by one of the public vaccinators of the parish. With respect to re-vaccination, there is no law under which this can be enforced. As regards vaccination, I am strongly impressed with the responsibility of parents who neglect to have their children vaccinated, and of the Local Authorities who fail to put in operation the law as to the enforcement of vaccination, especially where an outbreak of smallpox has actually occurred.