§ MR. WEIRTo ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the fact that three out of the five vaccinated children under five years of age who have been attacked by smallpox during the present epidemic in Liverpool, and 6 whom the Liverpool medical officer of health alleged at a meeting of the Liverpool Health Committee on the 21st May last had been imperfectly vaccinated, were vaccinated by two of the public vaccinators appointed by the Liverpool Select Vestry; whether the local authority is entitled to recover these fees from the public vaccinators; and whether he will issue a definition of perfect vaccination with a view to a better understanding on this point between the medical officer of health and the Liverpool public vaccinators.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) My attention has been drawn by the Local Anti-Vaccination League to the three cases referred to in the Question, and I have communicated with the clerk to the Select Vestry of the parish of Liverpool on the subject. As to one of the cases, the clerk informs me that there is no record of it in the vaccination registers or in the workhouse books of the parish. The other two cases appear to have been vaccinated by public vaccinators of the parish, and, according to the vaccination registers, successful vesicles were produced by the operations. In one of the two cases the child is in the hospital. In the other case the parents have removed and their address is at present unknown; but I understand that in both cases further inquiries will, if possible, be made at the instance of the Vestry. Upon the information before me I am not prepared to say that the public vaccinators were not entitled to fees in these cases. The instructions issued by the Local Government Board to public vaccinators direct that in all ordinary cases of primary vaccination the public vaccinator should aim at producing four separate good sized vesicles or groups of vesicles, not less than half an inch from one another. The instructions state further that the total area of vesiculation resulting from the vaccination should not be less than half a square inch. It does not appear to me that I can do anything further with the view of meeting the point referred to in the last part of the Question.