The Epic Journey to Eradicate Smallpox
The Balmis Expedition and its heroes
The Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition, also known as the Balmis expedition, happened at the beginning of the 19th century and is the journey of some men, a woman, and 22 children from Spain to America and Asia to carry the Smallpox vaccine created by the British doctor Edward Jenner. This was considered the first humanitarian expedition in history. Dr. Jenner had observed that women in charge of milking cows were immune to Smallpox, concluding after a study that these women had been in contact with the so-called Cowpox, later contracting Smallpox and overcoming the disease, had created antibodies, thus giving him the critical insight to create the first vaccine against smallpox.
The journey
Francisco Javier Balmis y Berenguer, the personal doctor of King Carlos IV of Spain and a great defender of the vaccine created by Dr. Jenner — which effectiveness had already been demonstrated in Europe — managed to convince the monarch to support a large expedition to bring the vaccine to the Spanish colonies in America and Asia. This expedition was formed by Dr. Balmis himself, Dr. José Salvany, two practitioners — Francisco Pastor Balmis and Rafael Lozano Pérez — three male nurses — Basilio Bolaños, Pedro Ortega, and Antonio Pastor — , and along with all of them…
