Chapter XXX: 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.

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.