Description:

Jenner William

Sir William Jenner LS Relating to 1866 Smallpox Vaccination Bill

 

8pp LS signed by renowned British pathologist William Jenner (1815-1898) as "William Jenner. M.D." at center of last page. The document, comprised of two bifold sheaves of blue-lined pale blue paper, was inscribed in a secretarial hand. With several pen notations, including the inclusion of a lengthy margin note on second page. Expected paper folds, including some with minor closed tears. Paper clip ghost impression at upper left corner of first page. A little weathering to last page, else in very good to near fine condition. Each page measures 8" x 13".

 

William Jenner, sitting President of the Epidemiological Society of London, dictated this response to "My Lord Duke…His Grace the Lord President of the Council," or, the head of the Medical Department of the Privy Council, which would eventually become the Ministry of Health. In the document, Jenner gives his feedback on the "Bill to Consolidate and Amend the Statutes Relating to Vaccination in England," proposed several months earlier, in April 1866. The bill was drafted in response to a nationwide small pox epidemic between 1863-1866, as well as a localized outbreak in London in 1866.

 

"The Council of the Epidemiological Society having had under their consideration the Vaccination Bill proposed by the Medical Department of the Privy Council, which…is now before Parliament, wish that I should convey to your Grace the sense they entertain of the value of the Bill, for extending the practice of vaccination in England, + of the great improvements it will effect in the administration of public vaccination. They consequently hope that it will during this Sessions of Parliament become law. The extreme mortality from small-pox in England during the last three years, + the fatality of the disease in London at the present moment render it most desirable that measures for the improvement + extension of vaccination be promptly adopted…At the same time there are two especial particulars in which they [the Epidemiological Society] cannot regard the Bill as satisfactory…

 

1. They have always protested, + feel bound to protest, against this great branch of preventive medicine being associated with Poor Law relief…They submit, moreover, that a system of supervision which requires the joint agency of two public departments…is cumbersome + cannot fail to be disadvantageous…

 

2. …the Bill does not remedy one great + just source of complaint [among public vaccinators] -- the extreme inequality of payment arising from the varying circumstances of different districts…The Council submit to Your Grace that there should be additional (mileage) payments for distances exceeding three miles, and that there should be an increased fee per case for populations below a certain amount…

 

The Council wish me to call Your Grace's particular attention to a defect…in the 32nd clause of the Bill. This clause, as it is at present worded, renders persons liable to penalty for carelessly conveying small-pox patients in public conveyances 'containing passengers' --words of limitation which would leave untouched one of the most common dangers, namely, the conveyance of small-pox patients in street cabs…"

 

Overall, the Epidemiological Society heartily approved of bill's measures, many of which had been recommended by Society members. Yet Jenner and his peers took exception to two aspects: first, that the government agency tasked to administer public vaccinations was still operated by the same agency as Poor Law Relief; and second, that there were still great wage discrepancies among public vaccinators. Jenner's last critique about smallpox-contaminated street cabs reveals how far we have come in respect to transporting the sick in ambulances!

 

Smallpox, now considered eradicated, was a deadly virus spread through person to person contact and via contaminated objects. It caused full-body erupting pustules, rash, fever, and vomiting. British physician Edward Jenner had discovered in 1798 that people could be successfully vaccinated against the disease. But some members of Parliament still objected to mandating public vaccinations over 60 years later. Critics argued that a compulsory vaccination program was not always effective, was costly to administer, and violated civil liberties. The 1866 Vaccination Bill failed in light of such objections, but it was resurrected and passed the following year.

 

The Epidemiological Society of London was established in 1850. It mission was three-fold: to research and determine the origins of epidemic diseases; to develop medical treatment and recommend preventative measures; and to inform public health policy by communicating its findings to the government.

 

Sir William Jenner was one of the most famous doctors of the Victorian Age. In his role as royal "Physician in Ordinary," consulting physician, research fellow, and professor, he expanded awareness of the causes, treatment, and prevention of virulent communicable diseases like small pox, typhus, and typhoid.

 

In 1847, Jenner conducted an investigation at the London Fever Hospital, a 200-bed facility newly constructed in Kettle Field, Islington, London. Jenner's research confirmed that fevers previously grouped into one class could be separated into specific types. Jenner differentiated between two types of enteric fever, typhus and typhoid, in his 1850 tract On the Identity or Non-Identity of the Specific Cause of Typhoid, Typhus, and Relapsing Fever. Both typhus and typhoid were bacterial infections that manifested similar symptoms such as headache, rash, and fever. Yet Jenner concluded that the disease vectors of each were completely different; typhus was transmitted via infected mites, lice, and fleas, while typhoid was transmitted via ingestion of food or water contaminated by an infected person's feces. Jenner's expertise was so established that he attended Prince Consort Albert in 1861 and the Prince of Wales in 1871. Jenner was granted a baronetcy in 1868 in acknowledgement of his contributions to the medical field.

 

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