On May 14, 1796, the English country doctor Edward Jenner took material from a cowpox pustule caused by Cowpox virus, obtained from the hand of milkmaid Sarah Nelmes, and inoculated it on the arm of James Phipps, a boy from 8 years. The little boy did not get sick when he was exposed to smallpox two months later. He was immunized. Jenner was advised not to send a record of his observations to the Royal Society, which was prepared to reject them, but to publish it as a pamphlet and it appeared as such in 1798.
It is “precious discovery of the vaccine has excited the paternal request of the king to propagate it in his Indian domains…“.
Five years after this event, the Gazeta de Madrid reported, on August 5, 1803, the purpose of King Carlos IV to spread the vaccine against smallpox in his domains of the Indies and if possible in the Philippine Islands. “For this purpose, after hearing the opinion of the Council and some wise men, it has been served to order that a maritime expedition be formed, made up of skilled physicians and addicts to the company, directed by the Honorary Chamber Physician D. Francisco Xavier de Balmis, and paid for by his royal treasury; which, without sparing expense or effort, carry a sufficient number of children to inoculate successively in the course of the navigation; and preserving by this and other means the bovine fluid in all its effectiveness, they carry out the first arm-to-arm operations upon their arrival…”.
Balmis needed four months to select the components, agree on the routes and the starting point, look for the children vacciniferous and hire the boat. The Expedition left the port of La Coruña on November 30 aboard the corvette María Pita. The communication published by the Gazeta December 27, 1803 is a good summary: “There are several doctors commissioned, and they carry 21 children, who, being successively inoculated arm to arm in the course of navigation, will keep the bovine fluid fresh and unaltered. The expedition will stop in Tenerife, Puerto Rico and Havana to offer for Jenner’s precious discovery will be shared with men everywhere…, from Havana it will go to Veracruz, and from there to other ports, where the doctors will separate, and the expedition will branch out, as it were, until it extends over the whole world. continent, fostered by the enlightened Viceroys and Governors, supported by carefree practitioners, aided by the wise, favored by the peoples, and generally protected by the friends of the human species…”.
… fertile blood from Hispania,
fraternal spirits, luminous souls, hail.
A Philanthropic Expedition made up of people who will not avoid expenses or fatigue and protected by friends of the human species. In the report dated in Macao on January 30, 1806 and sent to José Antonio Caballero, Carlos IV’s Minister of Grace and Justice, Balmis apologized: “Your Excellency, allow me to vent my tears, with which they cannot help but jump, when I think of… how much they have worked…”, before describing the penalties of all of them: “Poor; sick and deprived of rest, even the necessary one many times, they have not lost fatigue or risks to serve our august sovereign. The Rector who with the excessive work and rigor of the different climates that we have traveled completely lost her indefatigable health” .
Just as Salvany did in a letter dated in Lima on October 1, 1806: “The individuals of the Royal Expedition animated only by a philanthropic zeal and to be useful to these faithful vassals of the pious Carlos… have devastated and overcome with many obstacles and Difficulties have arisen in order to fulfill as soon as possible the most generous and beneficial action, which could meditate the compassionate experience”.
Ten characters for history. Francisco Xavier Balmis and José Salvany, director and deputy director of the Expedition. The assistants Manuel Julián Grajales and Antonio Gutiérrez. Practitioners, Francisco Pastor and Rafael Lozano. Nurses, Basilio Bolaños, Pedro Ortega and Antonio Pastor and the Rector of the Casa de Expósitos de La Coruña, Isabel Zendal.
The charges are differentiated. Its functions and obligations specified. It is detailed even the way of dressing. “For the greatest economy y decency of the individuals of the expeditions, the Assistants are allowed to wear the same uniform as those of the Army hospitals, and for the interns and nurses that of the Garden porters Botanical”.
And the vaccinating children. “A children’s caravan heading to the New World to transport the vaccine and prevent smallpox epidemics. Resulting in one of the strangest journeys that has medicine and science in the 19th century as protagonists”, in the words of Gonzalo Diaz de Yraola.
As explained by the historian Susana M. Ramírez in her Doctoral Thesis The Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition at the Royal Audience of Quito. Complutense University of Madrid. In 1998, Balmis proposed a number of children ranging from 15 to 20 and they had to come from the House for Foundling Children of Santiago de Compostela. Why were they chosen precisely from this House? Once the departure from the port of La Coruña was determined, the trip from Madrid was avoided and because Galicia, due to its isolation, could not have reached the inoculation or vaccination at the end of 1803. Of the 21 children who took the vaccine four came from the Casa de Desamparados in Madrid; Five left the Hospital de los Reyes Católicos in Santiago de Compostela and 12 were under the protection of the Hospital de Caridad de La Coruña, an institution of which Isabel Zendal was rector.
All the characters in this feat are necessary. Essential children. Irreplaceable Zendal. “The King agreeing with the proposal of Yourself and the Director of the expedition… allows HM that the Rector of the Foundling House of that City be included in it in the Nursing class; so that she can take care of the assistance during navigation and cleanliness of the Children, who had to embark, and cease the repugnance that is experienced in some Parents to entrust their children to the care of those without the relief of a Woman of providence “. On October 14, 1803, the president of the Board of the Hospital de Caridad was informed of the incorporation of Zendal.
The purpose of the expedition “It is to take the fresh pus and not let it deteriorate… It is mandatory that you take the pus or legitimate vaccine with you, and well experienced in Spain, with all the precautions of the art so that it arrives with virtue itself, which here has…” and to ensure it, the surgeons from Cámara Gimbernat, Galli and Lacaba, give Balmis a series of recommendations for a good outcome: “that when they leave each port they take to more than one vaccinated child with signs of a true vaccine…; that the material extracted from the vaccinated during navigation be placed in glasses so that it can be used if there is any problem or impediment in arm-to-arm vaccination arm…; that in addition to the manuals of the Treaty of the vaccine translated by Balmis carry a considerable number of glasses to distribute among the country’s teachers…”. And they did it.
In 1804 the Venezuelan Andrés Bello, who was Rector of the University of Chile and professor of Bolívar, gave ¡vivas! to the king of Spain. “Long live the worthy monarch who frees us from smallpox! Long live the fourth Carlos! Let Venezuela publish that the one who launched the atrocious smallpox from our climate was his paternal love.” consoled venezuela. A few years later all loyalties will be removed. Bello will accompany Bolívar to London gathering support for the insurrection.
Already in the 20th century, in 1974, the Government of Mexico instituted the Medal of Merit in Nursing “Nurse Isabel Cendala y Gómez”, honoring those who, led by Dr. Balmis, disseminated the smallpox vaccine in Mexico and the Philippines. Today a sectarian president asks that Spain humble itself and ask for forgiveness.
Perhaps we need a vaccine against oblivion and resentment.
abominate the hands that stone the illustrious ruins
or that they wield the firebrand or the suicide dagger.
Ruben Dario. salutation of the optimist
2023-08-13 07:18:45
#Royal #Philanthropic #Vaccine #Expedition #Part #Libertad #Digital
