§ 26. Mr. BENTHAMasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether an inquest was held on 23rd October, at the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, on the body of John Brown, aged eighteen years, a second-class stoker on His Majesty's ship "Pembroke," who joined the Royal Navy on 11th September; whether, at that time, he would be passed as physically fit in every respect after a searching medical examination; whether he is aware that he was vaccinated on 25th September with Government official lymph; that he was put on the sick list on 1st October and admitted to the hospital on 8th October, suffering from an abscess on the left arm at the seat of vaccination; and that he died on 20th October from septicæmia following vaccination, due to germ (streptococcic) pollution; and whether, with this additional proof of the possibilities of vaccination, he is now pre- 108 pared to recommend that the Regulations of the Service in regard to vaccination be relaxed so as to admit of conscientious objection to the operation being allowed?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the ADMIRALTY (Dr. Macnamara)The statements contained in the question are substantially correct. All precautions regarding asepsis were taken at the time the young man was vaccinated; the same strain of lymph was used for the purpose of vaccinating a large number of other recruits, and no abnormal results followed. I cannot undertake to recommend that the Regulations of the Service in regard to vaccination should be relaxed.
§ 27. Mr. BENTHAMasked the President of the Local Government Board whether at an inquest held on 23rd October, at the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham, on the body of John Brown, a sailor, who had died as the result of vaccination performed less than a month previously, it was stated that lymph from the Government laboratory was used; whether he can state the origin of the strain of lymph in question; and whether lymph from the same original strain is still being distriduted by his Department?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Herbert Lewis)My attention was recently drawn to this case, and I have had some inquiries made. I learn that sixty other sailors were vaccinated from the same tube of lymph on the same day and that in no other case were any ill-effects observed. The strain from which the lymph was derived has been passed from calf to calf for a number of years, and has been used by public vaccinators during all that period with satisfactory results.