Global Movements, Local Concerns: Medicine and Health in Southeast Asia

Chapter 1: The Real Expedicion de la Vacuna and the Philippines, 1803-1807

The Real Expedición de la Vacuna and the Philippines 1 CHAPTER 1 The Real Expedición de la Vacuna and the Philippines, 1803–1807 Thomas B. Colvin Introduction The Real Expedición de la Vacuna of 1803–1807, headed by Dr. Francisco Xavier Balmis, has not received the attention it so richly deserves, especially its final leg reaching into Asia. The Expedition’s significance has perhaps been best expressed by the Venezuelan medical historian Ricardo Archila in his 1969 monograph La Expedición de Balmis en Venezuela, in which he described the expedition as: One of the most important medical events of colonialism; one of the initial chapters of universal medical history in the nineteenth century; one of the precursor international sanitary measures, with the distinction of being the first organized, systematic campaign, with epidemiologic objectives, and which in more than one continent managed to impose human victory over centuries-old, terrifying smallpox.1 Edward Jenner’s announcement in 1798 of the effectiveness of cowpox vaccine in protecting recipients from smallpox was widely acclaimed by a grateful British public.2 Jenner had successfully vaccinated a young boy with a fluid containing the milder cowpox, subsequently exposing the lad to virulent smallpox with no effect. However, the procedure was not universally accepted in England. In fact, loud but limited opposition emerged during the first decade of the 1800s before fading away, with Dr. George Pearson as one of its leaders.3 Consequently, a formal national program of dissemination lagged in England, even though vaccination was wholeheartedly supported by many doctors, hospitals and countless parents who presented their children for the procedure. 1 2 Thomas B. Colvin Meanwhile, many in England were fascinated by accounts of the vaccine’s rapid dissemination around the world. For example, in the papers of the Halford family of Wistow, Leicestershire, one finds a contemporary, five-page account of successful efforts to distribute the vaccine throughout the Spanish colonies, across Russia and even into China and Java, as well as of personal accolades addressed to Jenner by the King of Spain, the King of Austria and even Napoleon.4 The British were particularly intrigued by the world-spanning Spanish campaign.5 Especially noteworthy was the account of the vaccine’s arrival in Canton via Spanish sources from Manila, presented to the Royal Society by Sir George Thomas Staunton on 6 November 1806.6 Even Jenner’s official biography by personal friend and fellow doctor John Baron singled out the Spanish effort for particular praise.7 Strangely, the story of this Spanish vaccination campaign was for many decades erased from memory, along with the significant scientific expedition by Alejandro Malaspina in the early 1790s throughout the Spanish colonies. These curious erasures are partly explained by the abdication of Spain’s King Carlos IV in 1807, the country’s embarrassment about the rumored scandals of First Minister Manuel Godoy and Queen Maria Luisa and the subsequent invasion by France in 1808 and the ensuing Peninsula War. In Malaspina’s case, this illustrious sea captain ran afoul of the ruling powers in Spain, who even imprisoned him for a few years. His expedition diary sat unread in the National Archives for decades. In recent decades, this story has been slowly brought back into public attention by a series of historians, largely from Spanish-speaking countries reporting on the campaign within their own national borders. A few accounts were published in the 1950s, marking the 150th anniversary of the Expedition. Since 2003 and the 200th anniversary of the launching of the Spanish vaccination campaign, which has become known as the Balmis Expedition after its leader Dr. Francisco Xavier Balmis, there has been a spate of monographs, articles and academic books presenting the campaign in overview or new information recently unearthed about the expedition’s experience in the colonies.8 This chapter provides an overview of the Balmis Expedition, with particular attention given to the expedition’s experience in the Philippines. King Carlos IV: Problem and Response In December of 1802, King Carlos IV of Spain was presented with a problem that touched him deeply: his loyal subjects in Peru faced a sudden, fearful epidemic of smallpox. Carlos empathized: his own family had been touched The Real Expedición de la Vacuna and the Philippines 3 by the disease. Carlos also knew that a new and entirely safe protection against the disease was now available via the vaccination technique...