Abstract
THE Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination is one of the most moderate, and certainly one of the most convincing that has come from any Royal Commission during recent years. The Commissioners have, for seven years, been occupied in making most careful inquiries at all sources as to the efficacy of vaccination in rendering children (and adults) less susceptible to infection by small-pox virus. No trouble has been too great, and no expense has been spared to obtain accurate information as to the truth of statements made by the witnesses who appeared before the Commission; as to the trustworthiness of figures placed in evidence; as to the nature of the disease alleged to be due to vaccination; and as to the exact share that legal compulsion has had in promoting or preventing the vaccination of children. The conclusions at which the Commissioners have arrived are evidently based on the most thorough conviction that the evidence before them, after the careful sifting through which it has gone, is to be thoroughly trusted, whilst their recommendations as regards the alteration in the methods of operation, registration, and legal compulsion certainly appear to be those best calculated to increase the efficiency of vaccination, concerning the value of which they are so thoroughly convinced.
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The Report of the Royal Commission on Vaccination. Nature 55, 15–17 (1896). https://doi.org/10.1038/055015a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/055015a0