HC Deb 25 July 1907 vol 179 cc127-8
MR. J. M. ROBERTSON (Northumberland, Tyneside)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the fact that inoculation for plague in the Punjab of late has been resorted to in increasing numbers of cases and that the death rate from plague is there at the highest, he will take into consideration the expediency of abandoning the practice as dangerous.

MR. MORLEY

The opinion of those who have had experience is that the health of the patients is unimpaired by inoculation even where they are children of poor constitution; and that it confers immunity for a period of from six to twelve months or more. Statistics in Bombay show in the case of municipal labourers that while the percentage of un-inoculated who were attacked by plague was 6 .7, that of inoculated was only .19.

MR. J. M. ROBERTSON

asked how the right hon. Gentleman explained the fact that the death-rate was highest where inoculation was greatest.

MR. MORLEY

was understood to reply that it was quite true that the death-rate in the Punjab was extremely high, but he was not sure that it was also true that the inoculation was practised over wide areas where the disease was prevalent.