M 215
Vaccination of Infants.
Under the Vaccination Ordinance the guardians of every child born must, unless there be a medical reason to the contrary, furnish to the Registrar General of Births and Deaths a certificate of vaccination, on receipt of which the Registrar General must record the facts in the Births Register. Notices containing advice on this matter are handed to the person registering the birth, and if the person notifying be not the parent notice is also sent by post.
If the necessary certificates are not received reminders are sent by post to the parents.
The non-Chinese make a good response and the majority of infants are vaccinated. The Chinese on the contrary do not make a good response and the majority of infants remain unvaccinated or at any rate uncertified. The majority of the Chinese are of course working class people who can neither read nor write English or Chinese.
Many of these people hold the belief that a child should not be vaccinated until it has experienced two Chinese New Years, which means that one born just after the New Year would be nearly two years old before the propitious time arrives.
Under the circumstances very few prosecutions are instituted for neglect to certify as to successful vaccination.
The table overleaf shows the position in detail:--