Registers of Vaccinations 1857-1932

The Health Act 1876 and subsequent amendments established the requirement for all children of a certain age to be vaccinated against diseases such as small pox. The District Registrar was required to keep a register of all children vaccinated within their respective district. Once a child was vaccinated, a vaccination certificate was completed in duplicate at the location that the vaccination took place. This details the date of vaccination, the name of the child and its father, its age and sex, the name of the person who administered the vaccination, the residence of and place of birth of the child. One copy of the certificate was forwarded to the District Registrar, who would register summary information, and cross-reference it with birth registers to monitor those children who had not yet been vaccinated. These registers were maintained by the District Registrar as a record that a particular vaccination that took place.