§ MR. BARTLEYI beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether he can state the number of vaccinations performed per thousand on the population in Glasgow each month for a year before the outbreak of the small-pox epidemic in that town, and the number of vaccinations Performed per thousand of the population each month since the outbreak began.
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY, Buteshire)There are no statistics available giving the monthly number of primary vaccinations performed in Glasgow. But practically the whole infant population is vaccinated, even when no small-pox is prevalent. Thus for the year 1899, which is the last for which the complete figures are available, the total number of births was 24,247, and of this number, after deduction of those who died before the ordinary period for vaccination expired, there remain only 775 cases unaccounted for, which again includes children removed from the district who may have been vaccinated elsewhere. Except when small-pox is present in the community it is impossible to get the population generally to have recourse to re-vaccination, and as during the twelve months prior to the beginning of the present outbreak in April, 1900, there had been no cases of the disease in Glasgow, little
† See Debates, Fourth Series, Vol. xc., page 55.603 re-vaccination was done except in the case of the staff of the fever and small-pox hospitals, the post office, and the police. Small-pox showed itself first in April, 1900. The only figures available at present are the revaccinations by the officers of the sanitary department and returns to the medical officer of health, which show that the numbers re-vaccinated for each period of four weeks were below 100 per 10,000 of population above five years of age till the months of February, March, and April last, when they sprang up to 1,740, 1,244, and 1,534 respectively. I should like to add, as I think there has prevailed some misapprehension in the matter, that during the whole year since small-pox made its appearance, that is, from 1st April, 1900, to 31st March, 1901, the total number of cases has only amounted to 2.26 per thousand, and the deaths have been 197 out of a population of 750,000.