AN ACT FURTHER TO EXTEND AND MAKE COMPULSORY THE PRACTICE OF VACCINATION. [20th August, 1853.]

16th & 17th VICTORIA, cap. 100.

Whereas an Act was passed in the fourth year of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act to extend the Practice of Vaccination: And whereas an Act was passed in the fifth year of the same reign, intituled An Act to amend an Act to extend the Practice of Vaccination: And whereas it is expedient that the practice of vaccination should be still further extended; Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

I. Parishes or unions to be divided into districts for the purpose of Vaccination, and places appointed for the performance of Vaccination. Within six weeks after the passing of this Act the guardians of every parish or union, and the overseers of every parish in which relief to the poor shall not be administered by guardians, in England and Wales, shall, subject to the approval of the Poor Law Board, divide such parish or union, if need be, into convenient districts for the purpose of affording increased facilities for the vaccination of the poor, and shall appoint a convenient place in each such district for the performance of such vaccination, and shall take the most effectual means for giving from time to time to all persons resident within such district due notice of the days and hours at which the medical officer or practitioner contracted with for such purpose will attend at such place to vaccinate all persons not already successfully vaccinated who may then appear there, and also of the days and hours at which such medical officer or practitioner will attend at such place to inspect the progress of such vaccination in the persons so vaccinated.

II. Parents and guardians of children born after the 1st August 1853 to have such children vaccinated within three or four months after birth.-The father or mother of every child born in England or Wales after the first day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three shall within three calendar months after the birth of the said child, or in the event of the death, illness, absence, or inability of the father and mother, then the person who shall have the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, shall within four calendar months after the birth of such child take or cause to be taken the said child to the medical officer or practitioner appointed in the union or parish in which the said child is resident according to the provisions of the first-recited Act for the purpose of being vaccinated, unless he shall have been previously vaccinated by some duly qualified medical practitioner, and the vaccination duly certified, and the said medical officer or practitioner so appointed shall and he is hereby required thereupon, or as soon after as it may conveniently and properly be done, to vaccinate the said child.

III. Children to be taken for inspection by medical officer on eighth day after the operation. Upon the eighth day following the day on which any child has been vaccinated as aforesaid the father or mother, or other person having the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, shall again take or cause to be taken the said child to the medical officer or practitioner by whom the operation was performed, in order that such medical officer or practitioner may ascertain by inspection the result of such operation.

IV. Certificate of successful vaccination to be delivered. Upon and immediately after the successful vaccination of any child the medical officer or practitioner who shall have performed the operation shall deliver to the father or mother of the said child, or to the person who shall have the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, a certificate under his hand, according to the form of Schedule herein-after inserted, marked (A.), that the said child has been successfully vaccinated, and shall also transmit a duplicate of the said certificate to the Registrar of Births and Deaths of the sub-district in which the operation was performed; and such certificate shall, without further proof, be admissible as evidence of the successful vaccination of such child in any information or complaint which shall be brought against the father or mother of the said child, or against the person who shall have had the care, nurture, or custody of such child as aforesaid, for non-compliance with the provisions of this Act.

V. If the child be not in a fit state for vaccination, the medical officer to deliver a certificate to that effect, to be in force for two months.-If any medical officer or practitioner shall be of opinion that any child is not in a fit and proper state to be successfully vaccinated, he shall thereupon and immediately deliver, without fee or reward, to the father or mother of such child, or the person having the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, a certificate under his hand according to the form of Schedule herein-after inserted, marked (B.), that the child is in an unfit state for successful vaccination, and such certificate shall remain in force for two calendar months from its delivery as aforesaid; and the father or mother of the said child, or the person having the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, shall, unless they shall within each succeeding period of two months have obtained from a medical officer or practitioner a renewal of such certificate, within two months next after the delivery of the said certificate as aforesaid, and if the said child be not vaccinated at or by the termination of such period of two months then during each succeeding period of two calendar months until such child has been successfully vaccinated, take or cause to be taken to the said medical officer or practitioner such child to be vaccinated by him; and if the said medical officer or practitioner deem the said child to be then in a fit and proper state for successful vaccination, he shall forthwith vaccinate it accordingly, and shall deliver to the father or mother of such child, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child, a certificate under his hand according to the form of Schedule herein-after inserted, marked (A.), that such child has been successfully vaccinated; but if the said medical officer or practitioner be of opinion that the child is still in an unfit state for successful vaccination, then he shall again deliver to the father or mother of such child, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, a certificate under his hand, according to the said form of Schedule (B.), that the child is still in an unfit state for successful vaccination; and the said medical officer or practitioner, so long as such child remains in an unfit state for vaccination, and un-vaccinated, shall at the expiration of every succeeding period of two calendar months deliver, if required, to the said father or mother of such child, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child, a fresh certificate under his hand according to the said form of Schedule; and the production of such certificate shall be a sufficient defence against any complaint which shall be brought against the said father or mother, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child for non-compliance with the provisions of this Act.

VI. Rates of payment for vaccination in contracts by guardians or overseers.--In all contracts to be hereafter made under the provisions of the first-recited Act by any guardians or overseers of the poor with any medical officers or practitioners for the vaccination of the persons resident in their respective unions or parishes the sums contracted to be paid shall not be less than the following rates; that is to say, for every person successfully vaccinated at the residence of such medical officer or practitioner, or within two miles therefrom by the nearest public road, a sum not less than one shilling and sixpence, and for every person successfully vaccinated at any place more than two miles distant from such residence any sum not less than two shillings and sixpence.

VII. Child's incapacity to receive the vaccine disease to be certified.--In the event of any medical practitioner acting under the provisions of this Act being of opinion that any child that has been vaccinated by him is insusceptible of the vaccine disease, he shall deliver to the father or mother, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child, a certificate under his hand according to the form of Schedule herein-after inserted, marked (D.); and the production of such certificate shall be a sufficient defence against any complaint which may be brought against the said father, mother, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child for noncompliance with the provisions of this Act.

VIII. Registrars of Births and Deaths to keep a register of cases of successful vaccination, of which searches and extracts may be made. The Registrar of Births and Deaths in every sub-district in which the operation has been performed shall keep a register of the persons of whose successful vaccination a certificate shall have been transmitted to him as above provided by the said medical officer or practitioner, and shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be made of any such register book

in his keeping, and shall give a copy, certified under his hand, of any entry or entries in the same, on payment of the fee of one shilling for each search, and sixpence for each certificate.

IX. Notice to be given of the requirement of vaccination, and on failure of parent or guardian to comply therewith, penalty.—The Registrar of Births and Deaths in every sub-district shall, on or within seven days after the registration of the birth of any child not already vaccinated within the said sub-district, give notice in writing in manner herein-after directed, and according to the form of Schedule herein-after inserted, marked (C.), to the father or mother of such child, or in the event of the death, illness, absence, or inability from sickness or otherwise of the father and mother, then to the person upon whom the care, nurture, or custody of such child shall have devolved, that it is the duty of such father or mother, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child as aforesaid, to take care that the said child shall be vaccinated in the manner directed by this Act, and shall together therewith deliver to such person a notice of the days, hours, and places within the district of such Registrar at which the medical officer or practitioner as herein-before provided will attend for the purpose of vaccination; and if after such notice the father or mother of the said child, or the person so having as aforesaid the care, nurture, or custody of the said child, shall not cause such child to be vaccinated, or shall not on the eighth day after the vaccination has been performed take or cause to be taken such child for inspection according to the provisions in this Act respectively contained, then such father or mother, or person having the care, nurture, or custody of such child as aforesaid, so offending, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding twenty shillings.

X. Fee to Registrar.-A fee of threepence shall be paid to such Registrar for each child vaccinated in respect of which he shall have performed the duties required in this Act; and he shall keep a book, to be provided as herein-after directed, containing a minute of his having duly given such notice as herein-before directed; and the said fee shall be payable in the same manner as the fee now payable to such Registrar for registering the birth of such child as aforesaid is paid.

XI. Registrar-General to provide books and forms for carrying out the provi sions of this Act.-The Registrar-General for England and Wales shall and he is empowered and directed, within two months after the passing of this Act, to frame and provide such books, forms, and regulations as he may deem requisite for carrying into full effect the provisions of this Act, and shall transmit the same to the Superintendent Registrars of each district in England and Wales, who shall deliver to the medical officers so appointed as aforesaid, and other duly qualified medical practitioners in the said district, such of the said books, forms, and regulations as they may require for the performance of the duties imposed upon them by this Act; and the expenses to be incurred by the Registrar General under the provisions of this Act shall be defrayed in the same manner as the expenses under the Act of the sixth and seventh years of King William the Fourth, chapter eighty-five.

XII. Recovery of penalties.-All penalties by this Act imposed shall be recoverable before any two justices of the peace for the county, city, borough, or place where the offence may have been committed; and the provisions of the Act of the twelfth year of her present Majesty, chapter forty-three, shall be applicable to the recovery of such penalties.

XIII. Application of penalties.-All penalties recovered under this Act shall be applied in aid of the funds applicable to the relief of the poor in the parish or place maintaining its own poor wherein the offence may have been committed.

I, the undersigned, hereby certify, That I am of opinion that

the child of

aged

cessfully vaccinated, and I do hereby postpone the vaccination until the

Day of
Dated this

of the parish of
in the County of
is not now in a fit and proper state to be suc-

185
(Signed)

Day of

SCHEDULE (C.)

A.B.

Surgeon of the Union or Parish (or other Medical Practitioner, as the Case may be).

I, the undersigned, hereby give you notice, and require you to have C.D. vaccinated within three (or four, as the case may be, according to the second Section of this Act) months after the birth, pursuant to the provisions and directions of the Act of the 16th Victoria, cap. As witness my hand this Day of

185

(Signed) J.B. Registrar of Births and Deaths for

the

Sub-district (as

the Case may be).

SCHEDULE (D.)

I, the undersigned, hereby certify, That I am of opinion, That

the child of

Dated this

of the parish of

is insusceptible of the vaccine disease.

Day of

in the County of

MEDICAL AGENTS.

MR. BOWMER, 50, Lincoln's-Inn-Fields.

MR. JACOBSON, 38, Walbrook, Cheapside.

MESSRS. LANE & LARA, 14, John-street, Adelphi.

MR. ORRIDGE, 80, Bucklersbury.

THE LONDON AND PROVINCIAL MEDICAL PROTECTION SOCIETY, 43, Lincoln's-
Inn-Fields.

THE

BRITISH MEDICAL DIRECTORY

FOR 1854.