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Appendix IIIA.
Rough Translation of a Talk given by Mr. Ho Kom Tong, O.B.E. on ZBW at 7.45 p.m. on 25th April, 1938 in Hong Kong on the topic of
The Importance of Being Immediately Vaccinated.
Ladies and gentlemen :-
1. I suppose you have all read from the newspapers of the smallpox epidemic which is raging in our midst. From the 1st of January up till now the number of reported cases totals about 2,100 with some 1,600 deaths, while quite recently there were sixty-nine cases reported in one day. As far as I can remember this is the worst smallpox scourge Hong Kong has ever known.
2. I was therefore highly delighted when I learned that the Chinese Representatives on the Executive and Legislative Councils (the Hon. Dr. R. H. Kotewall, C.M.G., LL.D., the Hon. Mr. T. N. Chau, C.B.E., the Hon. Mr. M. K. Lo and the Hon. Dr. Li Shu Fan) held a conference with the Director of Medical Services (the Hon. Dr. P. S. Selwyn-Clarke) as to the best methods of stamping out this epidemic. The decision they arrived at was a house-to-house campaign to induce people to get vaccinated. This, you will agree, is a very wise policy, for although the St. John Ambulance Brigade, the Chinese Y.M.C.A. and the Chinese public dispensaries have for several months past been giving free vaccinations to a large number of people, yet there are still many who have not been vaccinated. The reason, I think, lies in the fact that either they are too lazy or else they are not yet fully conscious of the great danger they are in by not being vaccinated.
3. In these circumstances, the Chinese Representatives approached the Government to pass immediate regulations to organise a number of authorised persons to go to every house in the Colony and get people to be vaccinated without charge. They will not, of course, interfere with anyone, their object being simply to induce those who have not been vaccinated to submit to vaccination. Therefore you need have no fear. This vaccination campaign will commence on the 1st of May and will last daily from 9.00 a.m. until the whole Colony has had the benefit of free vaccination.
4. I am sure those who now hear me know that the Government spends a great deal of money to secure fresh lymph for the purpose of vaccination while doctors and nurses devote a lot of time to this voluntary work. The Government gets nothing out of this. The whole idea of this vaccination is to bring benefits to you—in short, to save your lives. I sincerely hope, therefore, that all the citizens of this Colony will unite to help the Government to make a success of this campaign.
5. Those who are able to show proofs of recent vaccination will not of course have to submit to another vaccination, but those who have not been recently vaccinated must, for the sake of their own lives and the lives of those living near them, submit to vaccination. Don't delay or hesitate because you will never know when you may be a victim of this terrible scourge. If, on the other hand, you want to cheat the Government by showing false proofs of recent vaccination, you are really cheating your own selves. Also, do not conceal any cases for by so doing you are not only deceiving the Government but your own selves.
6. Those who have been vaccinated will, of course, avoid the danger of an attack from smallpox for the vaccination is an insurance against such an attack. On the other hand, those who refuse to be vaccinated will assuredly know that when they are afflicted with smallpox, their case is so serious that even the best of Western and Chinese medical assistance cannot give them absolute cure.