THE ROYAL SPANISH EXPEDITION TO VACCINATE AGAINST SMALLPOX.
On 30 November 2004 the Spanish Post service, ‘Correos’, issued a nice stamp depicting the sail corvette MARIA PITA and people of La Coruña waving hands to the departing ship. The stamp reproduces a drawing as published in a magazine of the time.
Two hundred and one years before that date, on 30 November 1803, a philanthropic expedition onboard the MARIA PITA departed from the port of La Coruña, led by Francisco Javier de Balmis, a Court Physician who had spent many years as a military surgeon. Balmis had been aboard Spanish Navy ships in many expeditions and battles. As a civilian doctor, he traveled several times to the Spanish American colonies, where he did much research on the use of medicinal plants.
Just a few years prior, in 1796, Edward Jenner an English doctor had discovered the smallpox vaccine and successfully experimented with an inoculation of what became the first vaccine against smallpox. In 1880, Spanish doctors also made great success with the first vaccinations in that country. By 1802, several colonies requested court actions to fight the smallpox epidemics that were desolating their populations.
An idea began to take shape to send an expedition to inoculate the vaccine and teach doctors in those regions how to fight the illness. It happened that Spain’s King Charles IV had a daughter who had suffered the illness, and he became a strong supporter of the idea.
In 1803 Balmis translated into Spanish Jenner’s book on his experiments. Balmis an enthusiastic proponent of the new treatment, was then selected to direct a mission.
A total of 10 doctors and medical assistants were on the ship’s roll. First assistant to Dr. Balmis was Dr. Salvany.
The plan of the Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the smallpox Vaccine included visits to the cities, towns and villages of the Canary Islands, Spanish America and the Spanish Pacific Islands.
The ship selected was a 200-ton three-masted merchant sailing corvette, the MARIA PITA, which among other options was cheaper to charter and ready to sail. She was not the only ship in the expedition as other local boats were employed during the navigation along the American and Pacific coasts: The coastguard boat RAMBLI, the war/packet brig EL PALOMO, the brig SAN LUIS, the schooner NANCY the galleon SAN FERNANDO DE MAGALLANES the Portuguese sailing ship DILIGENCIA and BOM JESUS DE ALEM, as well as some smaller boats and launches.
Ashore and inland, horses, mules, river canoes, and porters transported the expeditionary and materials.
The key to obtaining and conserving the vaccine was to produce and maintain in a human body especially a child’s body, the pustule with the virus alive. That inoculation, initially made with the cow-pox agent, did not cause any harm to the virus bearer. In this manner, Jenner conducted the first experiment, and other doctors followed the same procedure.
The Spanish expedition included 23 children, who were inoculated and medically observed – and instructed by teachers – during the voyage. Ashore, in the colonies, other children were inoculated with the fluid obtained from the first group, and so on, in order to expand the basis for the distribution of the vaccine among the colonial populations.
The expedition found some difficulties in accomplishing its task, although as a whole enterprise, it was valued a success and considered one of the most important international actions in public health and sanitary education. Several of its members remained overseas for years. Balmis returned to Spain from Macao in 1806 aboard the BOM JESUS DE ALEM. Salvany died in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 1810, on the age of 34
The MARIA PITA returned in August 1804 in Spain after eight months and 10 days.
The massive vaccination of the human population in the last 200 years defeated smallpox.
The world Health Assembly officially declared the terrible disease eradicated worldwide in 1980.
Spain 2004 0.77 Euro, sg?, scott?
Source: Copied from an article in watercraft Philately by Emilio Bonaplata.