WHY VACCINATION SOMETIMES SEEMS A FAILURE
[Sidenote: What constitutes a successful vaccination]
How does it happen that those who have been recently vaccinated
sometimes have smallpox? It is _successful_ vaccination that
prevents smallpox, not recent vaccination; there is a vast
difference between the two. A _successful_ vaccination is one that
results in a sore identical with the sores of smallpox. Such a sore
is secured only as a result of the action of the germs that cause
smallpox.
If the arm is red from the shoulder to the wrist and so swollen
that you cannot use it for weeks, it does not necessarily mean that
you have had a successful vaccination.
Such arms are not the result of vaccination itself, any more than a
railroad wreck is the result of the fact that there is steam in the
engine. The railroad wreck is caused by carelessness on the part
of some operator, and the badly inflamed and swollen arm is due
to lack of care or knowledge on the part of the vaccinator or the
person vaccinated.
[Sidenote: Some pretended vaccinations]
A fly blister is not a successful vaccination. Such a statement
may not seem necessary, until you hear this story. A man showed a
sore on his arm, asserting that it was a successful vaccination. He
was told that it was nothing but the result of a blister, and not
vaccination, and that the work had been done by putting a small bit
of blistering plaster on his arm. He admitted this to be the fact,
and said that the "doctor" who did it told him that it was a new
way of vaccinating. The doctors who say that vaccination will not
prevent smallpox belong to the class who use fly blisters and call
them vaccinations. When the patient gets smallpox, those who are
opposed to vaccinations say that here is an illustration of their
claim that vaccination will not prevent smallpox.
[Illustration: FIG. 63. How vaccinated arms are sometimes infected.]
Some people who honestly think they were vaccinated have smallpox.
There are sometimes instances in which a person recently vaccinated
with apparent success nevertheless contracts smallpox; there are
still other cases in which the disease develops after a vaccination
that would not take. Here is an example:
A doctor vaccinates a child in the usual manner. At the end of
four or five days, the dressing is taken from the arm, and the
only thing to be seen is a little black scab. The child scratches
this off. In a few days the spot becomes red and a small abscess
forms, resembling a smallpox sore. Naturally, this is taken for
a completely successful vaccination, but it is not really so.
When the child scratched off the scab, the vaccination wound was
nearly healed, and the little abscess was caused by some very
mild pus germs, which were under the finger nails with which he
scratched the wound. The abscess was in no wise connected with the
vaccination, but was simply such an infection as a child might get
at any time that he scratched his arm. No one has ever claimed that
such an abscess will prevent smallpox any more than that a boil
will prevent it.
_A successful vaccination will prevent smallpox._ The length of
time for which it will prevent the disease varies in different
individuals. Some it will protect only for a year or two, while in
others it will last through life.
Dr. H. W. Bond, Health Commissioner of St. Louis, Missouri, states:
"The experience of this department, based on the observation of
thousands of cases, is that a well-pitted mark gives at least ten
years' immunity. We have never seen a case of smallpox in a person
with a well-pitted scar less than ten years old--that is, the scar
less than ten years old."
[Sidenote: A sore arm not always due to successful vaccination]
One of the strongest objections made against vaccination is that
the arm sometimes becomes very sore from it. This is true, but
the sore arm is not a common occurrence and is never caused by
vaccination properly performed. There is always some cause for the
bad arm besides the vaccination.
[Sidenote: Cause of sore arms]
The usual cause of a bad arm is improper vaccination; this means
the lack of proper precautions on the part of the person who does
the vaccinating. Years ago, before vaccination was performed with
the great care which is given it to-day, bad arms could not be
prevented; but to-day the cause of the trouble is not the vaccine,
but the vaccinator. Sometimes a father thinks he will save a dollar
by vaccinating his child himself, and he is likely to injure the
child by attempting to vaccinate him without taking antiseptic
precautions. The same surgical preparations must be made for a
vaccination as for an operation. If this is not done, a bad arm
will result, not because of the vaccination, but because of the
negligence of the vaccinator.
Never allow any person, doctor or otherwise, to vaccinate you until
the skin surface has been well washed with soap and water, rinsed
clean, and wiped off with alcohol. See that the vaccine is fresh
and has been properly kept. When it begins to "take," keep the spot
absolutely clean and covered with a clean cloth, renewed daily.
_Never scratch or rub it._ These precautions will prevent the
dreaded soreness of the arm.
[Sidenote: How people themselves infect their arms with pus germs]
The person operated on is himself often responsible for the bad
arm. A careful doctor will put a dressing on the arm, after he has
supplied the vaccine, and will tell you to let that dressing alone,
for he wishes to take it off himself. About the third or fourth
day after the vaccination, your arm begins to itch. Possibly you
have forgotten what the doctor told you; at any rate, you pay no
attention to directions and take the dressing off to scratch the
arm. When you scratch the wound, you introduce pus germs into it,
and you have no reason to expect anything but a sore arm. In this
case, it is not the fault of the vaccinator or of the vaccination;
it is your own fault. Never touch a vaccination sore; in fact, it
is dangerous to touch any sore.
=Questions.= 1. How is a successful vaccination determined? 2.
What are some pretended vaccinations? 3. Mention some of the
things that cause bad arms after vaccination.
=Remember.= 1. A successful vaccination causes a sore identical
with the sores that result from smallpox. 2. A fly blister is
not a vaccination in any sense of the word. 3. A very sore arm
does not result from a properly performed vaccination, but
from carelessness on the part of the vaccinator or the person
vaccinated.