The "Abundant Aid Record"
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2021-10-05T17:27:21-04:00
35.984018, 136.23969
Echizen Province
Maren Ehlers
The vaccination teams at Fukui's domain-run vaccination clinic took notes on every child they treated and later transferred these notes to a cleaner book, the so-called Hakusairoku (Abundant Aid Record).
The page on the left, taken from a contemporary manual for vaccinators, shows a cover template of Fukui's Abundant Aid Record and two templates for entries. According to these templates, each entry had to include the name of the transferring child (the “pox base,” upper right), the name, gender, and age of the receiving child (lower right), and the vaccinator's name (left). It also had to indicate the location (left or right arm), number, and depth of incisions. The horizontal line of boxes served to record examinations conducted after a certain number of days had passed after vaccination (e.g. 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, or 20 days). Each box was to be supplemented with information on the appearance of pocks at the time of examination. When the process was completed, vaccinators were to indicate that fact by marking the entry with a “success” stamp.
The Abundant Aid Record was of supreme importance for tracking vaccinations and communicating information between vaccinators working at the clinic at different points in time. It also served as a mobilization tool, because it had an index listing all vaccinated children by name and helped identify children who had failed to show up for their follow-up appointment.
