VACCINATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6535, 6 February 1882, Page 5

VACCINATION.

TO THE EDITOB. Sib, —In your leading article of ITeb. 4 you state that “ There is no necessity for arm to arm vaccination whatever." Will you allow me to remark that the introduction of calf lymph simply offers to the public another opportunity for obtaining efficient vaccination, and also the maintaining of a supply of vaccine virus, which in times of emergency can be propagated in quantities —especially requisite when re-vaccination is called for among a large population (as lymph should not be taken from the vesicles of revaccination, and hence the necessity of a continued supply from the original source.) Calf lymph offers consolation to the antivaccinationists, but it is not intended to shake the confidence of the public in the. matter of arm to arm vaccination, which, in the hands of skilful and careful practitioners, has been, and will always remain an efficient safeguard against the ravages of small-pox, provided that primary vaccination in the infant is efficiently performed. Let those who believe in human vaccine still believe in it; but let those who dislike it take advantage of the opportunity which the New Zealand Government offers to them of being vaccinated from pure animal vaccine direct from the calf. Those desirous of making use of the animal vaccine must remember that the introduction of the virus from the animal te the human being is not always to be accomplished at the first attempt, and consequently they must be prepared (as is the case in every new enterprise) to meet with difficulties at the outset. Should at any time the supply fail, the fact remains that calf lymph can be imported from Brussels, and propagated in this Colony with care and patience. In order to take every precaution, I understand that the New Zealand Government will continue to „ import fresh supplies of calf lymnh from the Belgian State Animal Yaooinarlnstitute, of which Dr Warlomont is the director, and to whose efforts we owe so much.—l am, &c., W. E. HAOON.

Sunnyside, Feb. 5. [We did not in the least intend to depreciate arm to arm vaccination. We merely pointed out that anti-vaccinationists have no longer a locus standi in this Colony.— Ed. L.T.2