1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,760 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy Wilson and I'm Holly Frying. This is part 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:22,160 Speaker 1: two of our episode on the Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition, 5 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: which was Spain's effort to deliver the smallpox vaccine to 6 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: its colonies and the Americas and the Caribbean, and to 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,199 Speaker 1: implement widespread vaccine programs in those colonies once the vaccine 8 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: had been introduced. This expedition involved a human chain of 9 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:42,599 Speaker 1: boys from foundling homes and charity hospitals who acted as 10 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: living hosts for this vaccine. Last time, we covered the 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: basics of smallpox and how the vaccine made its way 12 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: to other parts of the world and sort of the 13 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: the setup for Spain embarking on this. Today we are 14 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: going to talk about the expedition itself, which was authorized 15 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:04,039 Speaker 1: by Royal Charter on June three, And as we noted 16 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: in part one, the method of vaccinating people for smallpox 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: in the early nineteenth century was a little gruesome, and 18 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: most of that detail is in the earlier episode, but 19 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: like you just got to refer back to it in 20 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: talking about this so just note it will be in 21 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 1: this episode as well. Although Guatemalan doctor Jose Flores had 22 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: advised the Council of the Indies on how to approach 23 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,199 Speaker 1: this expedition, the person who was actually tasked with carrying 24 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: it out was expedition director Francisco Xavier de Balmas Berenger. 25 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: Balmas was a physician and army surgeon who had been 26 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: born in seventeen fifty three. He had been named Honorary 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: Surgeon of the Chamber of King Carlos the fourth of Spain, 28 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: and he had gone on earlier voyages to the America's 29 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: to study and collect medicinal plants, so he already had 30 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: some experience at sea and some familiarity with some of 31 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: their destinations. Balmas was also experienced at administering vaccines. He 32 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 1: had been one of the foremost vaccinators in Madrid. He 33 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: had also translated French physician Jacques Louis Moreau de la 34 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: Starts Historical and Practical Treatise on the Vaccine into Spanish, 35 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: and in addition to carrying the vaccine to the America's, 36 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: this voyage would also carry Spanish language copies of this 37 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: book to distribute to health authorities while they were there. 38 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: The expedition's goals were to deliver the vaccine to the 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: Spanish colonies, to train local personnel to administer the vaccine, 40 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,799 Speaker 1: preserve the lymph and keep the program going over time, 41 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,639 Speaker 1: and to establish a vaccine board at each stop that 42 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: would keep records about who had been vaccinated. Balmus His 43 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: team for the expedition included assistant director Jose Salvani, along 44 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: with other surgeons, nurses, and practitioners. The only woman aboard 45 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: was Isabelle de Zendala Egomez, who was the rectoress of 46 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: the Cassada Expositos, or the found House in La Coruna, Spain. 47 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: Her name is presented and spelled multiple different ways in 48 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: records of the day, so there's some fuzziness there. She 49 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:13,920 Speaker 1: was the person who was ultimately responsible for the care 50 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: of twenty two boys between the ages of three and nine, 51 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: four of them from the foundling house that she was 52 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: the rectress of and the rest of them from a 53 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: charity hospital in La Coruna. One of these boys was 54 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,639 Speaker 1: Benito Vallez, who Isabel had adopted. Here are the names 55 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 1: of the other twenty whose names we actually know, along 56 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: with their ages. When the voyage arrived in Mexico Juan 57 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: Francisco and Francisco Antonio aged nine, Andre's Naya age eight, 58 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: Vicente Ferraire, Antonio Verredia, Candido and Geronimo Maria aged seven, 59 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: Clemente Domingo, Nio, Jose, Manuel Maria and Jacinto aged six, 60 00:03:56,200 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: Francisco Florencio and Juan Antonio aged five, and Pascual and 61 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: Niceto Martin Thomas Metiton, Jose, Jorge, Nicolas de la Dolores, 62 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: Manuel Maria Jose and Vicente Marl Salle Velito, all of 63 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:15,160 Speaker 1: whom were aged three. As far as we knew, all 64 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: of these boys had either been orphaned or abandoned by 65 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,600 Speaker 1: their birth parents, and the way these foundling houses and 66 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: charity hospitals worked in Spain was that abandoned or orphaned 67 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 1: infants would be brought to them, and after they'd been processed, 68 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,800 Speaker 1: they would be placed with a wet nurse in the community, 69 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: who would be paid a small stipend for her work. 70 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: Older children were sometimes placed with foster families, but often 71 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: they lived in poverty. For the children selected for this voyage, 72 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: though King Carlos the Fourth promised special protection and an 73 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 1: education at the government's expense once they arrived in Mexico, 74 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: as well as employment once they were old enough to work, 75 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: so in terms of what they were promised when they 76 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: were star out, it was going to be a long 77 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: sea voyage followed by a life that was supposed to 78 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,640 Speaker 1: be better than what they were experiencing in Spain. Originally, 79 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: this voyage had been planned for a larger ship, but 80 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: it ultimately took place aboard a corvette called the Maria 81 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: Pita under the command of Pedro de Barco. A corvette 82 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: was faster than a frigate, but it's smaller size naturally 83 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 1: presented some challenges over the course of the voyage. The 84 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: boys were going to be vaccinated in pairs every nine 85 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: or ten days, just in case one of the vaccines 86 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,200 Speaker 1: didn't take, but this also meant that there would always 87 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: be two boys on board with an itchy cow pox 88 00:05:38,920 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: blister who were living and playing with twenty other boys 89 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: in very confined quarters. Since anything from scratching to rolling 90 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: over in your sleep could damage the blister, and rough 91 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: housing could potentially lead a child to be infected with 92 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: the cow pox by accident, Isabelle Desendala had to keep 93 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: a careful watch on these kids at all times. This 94 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 1: sounds like the worst assignment on earth to me, but 95 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: crazed her for doing it. Boma's immunized the first two 96 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: boys in the chain, using limp for people he had 97 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: previously immunized in Spain, and then the Maria Pita set 98 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,799 Speaker 1: sail on November three. They stopped first in the Canary 99 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: Islands off the northwest coast of Africa to distribute the 100 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: vaccine there, and then from there they sailed for Puerto Rico, 101 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: where they arrived on February ninth, eighteen o four. This 102 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:39,080 Speaker 1: trans atlantic crossing was difficult, as any trans atlantic crossing 103 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: was likely to be at this point. By the time 104 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: they got to Puerto Rico, many of the children had 105 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: developed scurvy, and one of them had actually died from it. 106 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: And this is the one child whose name was not 107 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: recorded when they got to Mexico, so we don't know 108 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: what his name was. Balma is expected to be welcomed 109 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: in Puerto Rico with excitement and relief. As we noted 110 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: in Part one, the monarch had sent instructions to all 111 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: of the Spanish colonies to expect the expedition and to 112 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: prepare for its arrival, but to balmuss surprise, the vaccine 113 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 1: had already been introduced to Puerto Rico. So, like other 114 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: parts of the Spanish Empire, Puerto Rico had been trying 115 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:21,800 Speaker 1: to control a smallpox outbreak, and military surgeon Francisco oh 116 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 1: Year heard that the vaccine had already been introduced to 117 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: the nearby island of St. Thomas, which at the time 118 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,520 Speaker 1: was part of the Danish West Indies. There are several 119 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: possible ways that the vaccine got to St. Thomas. This 120 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: is one of the many rabbit holes I went down 121 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: that I alluded to in Part one that kept this 122 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: from being just a single, one part episode. St. Thomas 123 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: had been under British control in eighteen o one and 124 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: eighteen o two, and at that point Brittain had started 125 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: vaccinating at Sailors. The Danish Royal Institute for Vaccination had 126 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: also sent vaccine samples to the Danish West Indians in 127 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: eighteen o two, and John Johnston, who was a physician, 128 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,680 Speaker 1: had brought the vaccine from continental North America to the 129 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: island of Saint Croix in eighteen o three. It likely 130 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: spread to other Caribbean islands from there. I mean a 131 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: lot of these islands are close enough together that regardless 132 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: of who controlled it in terms of colonies, people went 133 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: among them all the time, regardless of which of these 134 00:08:22,720 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: was the source of vaccine in St. Thomas. When all 135 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: Year heard about its existence there, he asked them to 136 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:31,120 Speaker 1: send samples. The first ones he got had no effect 137 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: when he tried to use them, but his second attempt worked. 138 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 1: Even though Governor Ramon de Castro knew that the expedition 139 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:40,959 Speaker 1: was on its way, he thought that the situation in 140 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: Puerto Rico was too dire to wait around for it, 141 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:48,199 Speaker 1: so he instructed Ollier to start distributing the vaccine widely. However, 142 00:08:48,360 --> 00:08:51,959 Speaker 1: the governor did insist that his administration do everything they 143 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:54,680 Speaker 1: could to make sure the expedition's time in Puerto Rico 144 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: went smoothly to avoid ruffling any feathers for having taken 145 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: This initiative did not work at all. Bomas took the 146 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:09,680 Speaker 1: existing vaccine program in Puerto Rico really badly. A lot 147 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: of colonial accounts about this expedition really described him as 148 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: being arrogant and stubborn. This included writing off local health 149 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,240 Speaker 1: authorities as ignorant and inexperienced, even if they had already 150 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: conceived and implemented an entire vaccination program on their own 151 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: before he got there. In Puerto Rico, this led to 152 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: a prolonged dispute and which Bombas tried to publicly undermine 153 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: what oh Year had done and claimed that the vaccine 154 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 1: that oh Year was using was ineffective since oh Year 155 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: had already vaccinated more than fire people at this point. 156 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: This was a problem. Also in the window between when 157 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:51,559 Speaker 1: the vaccine was introduced to Puerto Rico and when Balmas arrived, 158 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: people had been so excited about vaccines that children literally 159 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: vaccinated each other as a game, so some of Balmas's 160 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,560 Speaker 1: concern earns about effacacy were probably pretty well founded. So 161 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 1: Bombas pointed out a couple of cases in which someone 162 00:10:06,840 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 1: who OH Year had vaccinated later developed smallpox or developed 163 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: a cow pox store after being re vaccinated by someone 164 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: from the expedition. It is likely this really happened because 165 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: things are not a hundred percent effective. All Year, on 166 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,880 Speaker 1: the other hand, noted that these were outliers and that 167 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: the vast majority of people who were re vaccinated after 168 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: the expedition arrived had no reaction to that vaccine at all, 169 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:38,320 Speaker 1: so their earlier vaccine had presumably been effective. Both the 170 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: governor and oh Year were sent lengthy correspondence back to 171 00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 1: Spain describing a lot of hostility and arrogance on bombas part. Overall, 172 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:50,080 Speaker 1: as you have just heard, this first Shop in the 173 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: America's did not go well for the expedition. They spent 174 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 1: four weeks in Puerto Rico, and although they administered vaccines, 175 00:10:57,280 --> 00:10:59,439 Speaker 1: they did not set up a vaccine board to keep 176 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: standardized records for the program. Then they faced a prolonged 177 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 1: wait for favorable winds before they could sit sail again, 178 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: and it took so long that they had to seek 179 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: out additional unvaccinated children to bring on board with them 180 00:11:12,679 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 1: to keep that chain going. Even then, by the time 181 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,760 Speaker 1: they finally made landfall again in Venezuela, they had no 182 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: unvaccinated children remaining on board and only one cow pox 183 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: store that was ready to produce vaccine. The expedition nearly 184 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: failed at this point, something Balma's squarely blamed entirely on 185 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: Puerto Rico. However, the chain was not broken at this point. 186 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: Bomas's team was able to vaccinate twenty eight children and 187 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: Puerto Cabello, Venezuela before they moved on. You know, talk 188 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,520 Speaker 1: about where the expedition went from there after a quick 189 00:11:47,640 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: sponsor break, The Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition hoped to vaccinate 190 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: as many people as possible, establishing tracking and record keeping 191 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:08,440 Speaker 1: procedures that would allow vaccination programs to continue in Spain's 192 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: colonies long into the future after the expedition was over. 193 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: So to that end, they vaccinated people, most often children, 194 00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: at every city where they stopped. Often people from outlying 195 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: villages would bring a child or children to have them vaccinated, 196 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 1: and then returned to continue vaccinations in the place they 197 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,120 Speaker 1: had come from nine or ten days later, or a 198 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,600 Speaker 1: few expedition members would carry the vaccine to a more 199 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:39,200 Speaker 1: outlying community. At various points, they also tried vaccinating cows, 200 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:44,120 Speaker 1: hoping to establish a natural reservoir of cow pox in 201 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: the Americas for the future use. This did not work 202 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 1: though cows. However, after they made multiple stops in Venezuela, 203 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: it quickly became clear that all of this was really 204 00:12:56,480 --> 00:12:59,560 Speaker 1: just too big of a job for one team, so 205 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: Ball to split the expedition in half, with him directing 206 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:07,240 Speaker 1: one team and Jose Salvani directing the other. Salvanni's team 207 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: traveled south farther into the continent of South America, while 208 00:13:10,880 --> 00:13:14,959 Speaker 1: Balmas set sail again, this time bound for Cuba. Each 209 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: had Venezuelan boys to act as vaccine hosts, and the 210 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: boys who had originally set sail from Spain all remained 211 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:25,360 Speaker 1: with Balmas, Although those twenty two boys are the ones 212 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,439 Speaker 1: most often mentioned in the context of this expedition, Local 213 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: children also worked as vaccine carriers after the expedition arrived 214 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:37,559 Speaker 1: in the America's Sometimes they were recruited from local families 215 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: and then returned later on, and sometimes they were enslaved. 216 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: Salvanni's team had the more perilous journey after the expedition split. 217 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:51,479 Speaker 1: The South American landscape is highly varied and often extremely treacherous, 218 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: and a lot of their route went through mountains and rainforests. 219 00:13:55,720 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: As they vaccinated people for smallpox, they faced tropical illnesses themselves. 220 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: They started out following the Magdalena River, but their ship 221 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: was wrecked in what's now Colombia not long after they 222 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: set sail. They were sheltered by the local indigenous people, 223 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: who Salvanese team vaccinated. As they salvaged their ship and 224 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:19,760 Speaker 1: tried to get ready to go again. They got to Cartagena, 225 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: which was then known as Cartagena to India's on four. 226 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: After vaccinating at least two thousand people, they again split 227 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: into two groups, each heading in a different direction through Colombia, 228 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: before rendezvousing at Santa Fe de Bogota. Salvanni became seriously 229 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: ill during this expedition, contracting tuberculosis and losing his vision 230 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: in one eye, which might have been a result of 231 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: the tuberculosis, or it could have been some other infection. 232 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: It's a little unclear. One of Salvani's major stumbling blocks 233 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: happened when they got to Lima, Peru. It turned out 234 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: that the vaccine had already made its way to Lima 235 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: thanks to the Vicetroy of Buenos Aires. And although this 236 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: was not the first time that the expedition reached a 237 00:15:05,720 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 1: place only to find that the vaccine was already there, 238 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 1: it was the first time that local authorities just did 239 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:15,280 Speaker 1: not want to adopt the expedition's procedures for administration and 240 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: tracking at all. Vaccinations had become a for profit business 241 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: in Lima, and local doctors didn't want to lose a 242 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: potential source of their income. The expeditions procedures were only 243 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 1: adopted after a new viceroy in Lima supported them. Salvanni's 244 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: leg of the expedition went on for seven years, moving 245 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: through and sailing around South America before returning to Spain. 246 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: Salvanni did not make the return voyage home, though he 247 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:46,000 Speaker 1: died in Bolivia in eighteen ten, to return to Bombas 248 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: in the other half of the expedition, he vaccinated roughly 249 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: twelve thousand people in Venezuela before departing for Cuba, taking 250 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: four enslaved boys with him to act as vaccine hosts, 251 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: and once he got there it turned out once again 252 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: that the vaccine had already been introduced. Medical authorities in 253 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: Cuba had been trying to get the vaccine, but their 254 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: intentional efforts had all failed. For example, vials of lymph 255 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: that were sent from Philadelphia were unsurprisingly not effective anymore 256 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: by the time they got to Cuba. But then, in 257 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: eighteen o four, a woman named Dona Maria b was 258 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: Demente left Puerto Rico bound for Cuba the day after 259 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: her son and two maids had been vaccinated. Their vaccine 260 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: sites were ready to be propagated shortly after their arrival. 261 00:16:34,760 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: Was just sort of a coincidence that she wound up 262 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: in Cuba with ready to harvest vaccine. As the Cuban 263 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: authorities were trying to do that. Dr Thomas Roma Chacon 264 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: used the lymph to start his own vaccination campaign, so 265 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 1: by the time Balmas arrived, thousands of people had already 266 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: been vaccinated. Many of Romay's recipients were enslaved Africans who 267 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: did not have the freedom to refuse it. This did 268 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: not go quite as poorly as the expedition's visit to 269 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: Puerto Rico had. Bomas seems to have approached the situation 270 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: in Cuba with like less overt hostility to the local authorities. 271 00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: This may have been because Romi took the step of 272 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: demonstrating that his vaccines had been effective by vary elating 273 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: his own sons, who he had vaccinated himself. They had 274 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:30,480 Speaker 1: no reaction to this exposure to smallpox. Bomas did implement 275 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:34,800 Speaker 1: the expedition standardized process for establishing a vaccine board and 276 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,360 Speaker 1: for keeping records in Cuba, something he had not actually 277 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:43,160 Speaker 1: done back in Puerto Rico. After leaving Cuba, Balmas went 278 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: to Mexico, arriving in Vera Cruz and finding unexpectedly that 279 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: there was no one waiting to be vaccinated, because once again, 280 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: a vaccination program had already been established before he got there. 281 00:17:55,480 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: The Ayantamiento, or Governing Council, had implemented a huge program 282 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 1: pleet with registration and tracking, and sending vaccine delegations to 283 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: outlying areas. Balma's was once again at risk of breaking 284 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: his vaccine chain, but ten men were conscripted from the 285 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: Garrison Regiment to act as hosts. These existing vaccine programs 286 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:21,360 Speaker 1: made Bomas's time in Mexico particularly challenging. He did make 287 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: arrangements for the boys who had traveled from Spain. They 288 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: were to be housed in Mexico City. They were placed 289 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: in the care of the bishop, and they started out 290 00:18:30,200 --> 00:18:33,160 Speaker 1: living at a charitable institution that actually wasn't that much 291 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:36,680 Speaker 1: different from what they had left in Spain. They were though, 292 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: given academic and religious instruction while they were there, but 293 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 1: most or possibly all of them were eventually adopted, mostly 294 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: by teachers, merchants, and doctors. But when it came to 295 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: administering vaccines, Balma's had a lot of trouble finding people 296 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: who had not been vaccinated yet. In Mexico City, he 297 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 1: almost lost his source again, but then the mayor brought 298 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: in a twenty indigenous children and their mothers who were 299 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: described as needing quote much persuasion in Balmus's words, quote 300 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: some admitted that it was right, but that they could 301 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: not pay, and every single one went to the apothecary 302 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,680 Speaker 1: demanding an antidote against the venom that had just been 303 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: introduced into the arm of her child. Yeah, a lot 304 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,879 Speaker 1: of Balmas's expedition staff just does not seem to have 305 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: taken that lesson to heart, uh, that that Jose Flores 306 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 1: had talked about, like don't traumatize people while you are 307 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: doing this. They seem to have taken a much heavier 308 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: and more aggressive hand A lot of time. Later on, 309 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: some children from a foundling home that the expedition had 310 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: vaccinated became ill, and while this illness was initially blamed 311 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:49,439 Speaker 1: on Bomas's vaccine, a board of doctors was convened and 312 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: he was cleared from all suspicion. On top of all 313 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: these challenges, Bomas himself was very ill. He had developed 314 00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: dysentery and what he believed was yellow fever. En route 315 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:05,480 Speaker 1: from Cuba to Mexico, Balmus continued westward through Mexico. In 316 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: Wahaka he established vaccine boards and a plan for vaccinating 317 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: the indigenous community situated outside the city. Once he reached 318 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: the western coast of Mexico, he procured a ship to 319 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: continue onto the Philippines. Meanwhile, on May eighteen o four, 320 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: the first smallpox vaccine was administered in Guatemala, using vaccine 321 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: that had been brought from Havana. Bombas faced a series 322 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,119 Speaker 1: of delays when he was trying to leave Mexico. The 323 00:20:33,160 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: ship that he was supposed to board was full, and 324 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 1: he and the expedition were denied passage. Rather than waiting 325 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:44,520 Speaker 1: for another vessel, are really waiting longer for another vessel? 326 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:48,199 Speaker 1: He traveled over Land's Acapulco, setting sail from there in 327 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: February of eighteen o five aboard the Maggayanas. He had 328 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: a new group of twenty five children on board. Most 329 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: of them were children from Mexico whose parents were compensated 330 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: for their participation Shan. These children were to be returned 331 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: to Mexico after this leg of the expedition was over. 332 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: They were once again in the care of Isabel desnsale 333 00:21:09,480 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: A Gomez, who remained on board even though her contract 334 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: had only been for the trip to Mexico. Conditions on 335 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: the Magayanas were much worse than they had been on 336 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:24,120 Speaker 1: the way to the America's from Spain, though they were 337 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:28,359 Speaker 1: very overcrowded, the ship was generally pretty filthy. Was a 338 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:32,199 Speaker 1: situation where he traveled to another port of departure and 339 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: got a different ship because he didn't want to wait 340 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 1: as long as he would have had to otherwise. But 341 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: there are accommodations were not great, and again two dozen 342 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,479 Speaker 1: kids crammed into that yes with two of them at 343 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,320 Speaker 1: a time, having a cow pox store that has to 344 00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: be carefully monitored. Balmas's team vaccinated and estimated twenty thou 345 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: people in the Philippines and established a vaccine board before 346 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:02,440 Speaker 1: continue going on to Macao, which is part of China 347 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: today but at that point it was a Portuguese colony. 348 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: Since this was a short trip, he needed only three 349 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 1: children to carry the vaccine. From Macau, they traveled to 350 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: other parts of China. Authorities in Canton, which was controlled 351 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: by the Spanish Royal Philippine Company, refused to cooperate with 352 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:23,199 Speaker 1: the expedition, so Balmus instead took the vaccine to the 353 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,560 Speaker 1: British East India Company. They rounded Africa and stopped at 354 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: the British island of Saint Helena on the way back 355 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: to Spain, where they arrived in July of eighteen oh six, 356 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,960 Speaker 1: having circumnavigated the globe. After this expedition, Bomas was appointed 357 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,680 Speaker 1: Spain's Inspector General of the Vaccine. Sometime around eighteen o 358 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: eight or eighteen o nine, during the Peninsular War, French 359 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,960 Speaker 1: forces sacked his house in Madrid. That was probably when 360 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,399 Speaker 1: his personal journals that detailed this expedition were lost. His 361 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:59,439 Speaker 1: personality seems to have been unchanged during this time. He 362 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:04,640 Speaker 1: express repeated frustrations that he was not getting enough correspondence 363 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:08,600 Speaker 1: from Salvanni about his progress, which was still ongoing through 364 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 1: South America at this point. These frustrations were in spite 365 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: of the fact that warfare was slowing down the mail 366 00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,120 Speaker 1: from South America back to Europe. He also accused Subody 367 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,160 Speaker 1: of being intentionally slow in all of this, even though 368 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,240 Speaker 1: he was covering an enormous amount of difficult to reign 369 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 1: during these years of the expedition, Balmas sounds real crabby. 370 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,679 Speaker 1: In eighteen o nine, Balma's returned to Mexico to evaluate 371 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,760 Speaker 1: the situation check in on vaccine boards re established lymph 372 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: supplies where they had been lost, and trying to find 373 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,320 Speaker 1: a local source of cowpox if the human to human 374 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,399 Speaker 1: chain should break again. He was still there when the 375 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: Mexican War of Independence started. He got back to Spain 376 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirteen. He was King Fernando the seventh Chamber Surgeon. 377 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,200 Speaker 1: In an eighteen six team, he was elected to the 378 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: Royal Academy of Medicine. Balmus died in Madrid on February twelve, 379 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen, at the age of sixty five. We will 380 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,159 Speaker 1: talk about the impact and the legacy of this expedition 381 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: after another quick sponsor break. In a way, the Royal 382 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition is one giant contradiction. Smallpox only existed 383 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,880 Speaker 1: in the America's because Europeans introduced it there, either through 384 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 1: their own bodies or through the bodies of enslaved Africans 385 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: who had no choice in all of this. And this 386 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: effort to control smallpox was only possible because Spain had 387 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 1: already developed such a massive colonial administrative state, with methods 388 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: of communication and payment and organization all ready to go. 389 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: So this expedition essentially approached a serious life or death, 390 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: probably them by building on the source of that problem. 391 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: It used of bureaucracy that had exploited and subjugated, and 392 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,480 Speaker 1: in some cases forcibly converted indigenous peoples to then offer 393 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: them the vaccine to an illness that they had introduced. Also, 394 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: as we noted in Part one, although King Carlos the 395 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 1: Fourth had some humanitarian goals with this expedition, parts of 396 00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:28,520 Speaker 1: it also rested on exploitation. In some places, enslavers tried 397 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: to protect their investments and productivity by seeking out vaccines 398 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,399 Speaker 1: for their enslaved workforce who had no autonomy over their 399 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,879 Speaker 1: own bodies and did not have the freedom to consent 400 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,439 Speaker 1: to this vaccine. And on the enslaver's part, this wasn't 401 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: just about productivity. It was also about racism and the 402 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: racist idea that people of African descent were dirty or 403 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 1: we're breeding disease. Over time, this idea spread to free 404 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 1: people who were living in poverty as well, and mass 405 00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: vaccination campaigns targeted poor people by force. Many many aspects 406 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: of the Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition would just not hold 407 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,119 Speaker 1: up today in terms of everything for medical ethics, to 408 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:13,119 Speaker 1: vaccine safety to general human rights issues. Just focusing on 409 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,719 Speaker 1: those children who acted as carriers. There were sixty two 410 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: of them known to have participated during the course of 411 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: the expedition. Four of them died as a result of 412 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,000 Speaker 1: their involvement. Um we didn't specifically say before the break, 413 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:29,199 Speaker 1: but those children that were supposed to be returned to 414 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: Mexico were returned to Mexico the fact that their parents 415 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:35,880 Speaker 1: had been compensated to send them on a voyage where 416 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 1: they would act as human hosts for a vaccine. I mean, 417 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,679 Speaker 1: that's not a thing that would probably be done today 418 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 1: fingers crossed. Uh. But at the same time, taking all 419 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,159 Speaker 1: of that into consideration, this was a pretty colossal achievement. 420 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,639 Speaker 1: It's hard to tell just how colossal, though. Estimates of 421 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: how many people the expedition directly immunized are all over 422 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,119 Speaker 1: the place. You'll find numbers anywhere for one thousand to 423 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand people. But the whole point was to 424 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: establish vaccine programs that would continue after the expedition had 425 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,400 Speaker 1: moved on, and it's hard to tell exactly how many 426 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:15,920 Speaker 1: people that affected. Even though the expedition established record keeping 427 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: procedures in most of the places it visited, many of 428 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:22,800 Speaker 1: those records have since been lost through changes in colonial administration, 429 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: revolutions and wars, and really local responses to the vaccine 430 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:31,040 Speaker 1: were all over the place. Some cities and towns held 431 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: parades to welcome the arrival of the vaccine, and people 432 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: eagerly awaited their turn, while others practically revolted at the idea. 433 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,399 Speaker 1: In Wahaka, for example, a mandatory vaccine program was ended 434 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,320 Speaker 1: after five years because of an uprising against it. In 435 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 1: some places, the vaccine programs the Expedition established kept going 436 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: in spite of all of that, and in some cases 437 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 1: they lasted for decades or even more than a century. 438 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,240 Speaker 1: But maintaining an arm to arm source of a vaccine 439 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,919 Speaker 1: is actually really hard. You want to vaccinate everyone because 440 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: you want to eliminate smallpox, but at the same time 441 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,399 Speaker 1: you need enough people who aren't already vaccinated to continue 442 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,360 Speaker 1: to act as vaccine hosts. So in Mexico City, for example, 443 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: this led to a whole process to try to ensure 444 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: that a hundred and sixty four children every year, preferably babies, 445 00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 1: were left unvaccinated. The responsibility for selecting these children was 446 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:32,879 Speaker 1: then divided up among the different wards of the city. 447 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: This just to me seems like failure waiting to happen. Yes, 448 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,959 Speaker 1: there are so many layers of not okay to this onion. 449 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: On top of the complexity of keeping the chain going, 450 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 1: a lot of people just didn't want to Getting a 451 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:52,040 Speaker 1: smallpox vaccine this way was painful. The cow pox store 452 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 1: was itchy and gross, and having the lymph harvested nine 453 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 1: or ten days later was also painful. Sometimes parents just 454 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: didn't bring their children back for that second visit, or 455 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: they hid their children when authorities were going house to house. 456 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: There was also a lot of resistance to the vaccine 457 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: in general, some of it justified, but some of it 458 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: based on intentional anti vaccine misinformation. Compounding all of this, 459 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 1: a lot of officials were just not good at calming 460 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: the fears of anxious children and their families, and instead 461 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: treated everybody who was scared as though they were ignorant 462 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 1: and backward. Spanish health officials, whether they had been born 463 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:33,680 Speaker 1: in Spain or in the colonies, often did not approach 464 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: indigenous or African people with any kind of cultural sensitivity 465 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 1: or basic respect. So unsurprisingly, these kinds of efforts eventually 466 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:46,400 Speaker 1: broke down in most places, leading health officials to look 467 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: for other sources of vaccine to start up again. Another 468 00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: complication involved with this was the realization that the vaccine 469 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,680 Speaker 1: did not confer lifetime immunity to smallpox as people had 470 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: believed it did when it was first introduced. So many 471 00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: places that still had vaccine programs going a couple of 472 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,800 Speaker 1: decades after the expedition had to adjust their procedures to 473 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: revaccinate people as their immunity wore off. When guadmal and 474 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: doctor Jose Flores had been asked to advise on how 475 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,240 Speaker 1: to introduce the smallpox vaccine to the America's he had 476 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,959 Speaker 1: praised the cow pox based vaccine as the quote easy 477 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:27,320 Speaker 1: and safe method to eradicate smallpox and forever liberate the 478 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:32,959 Speaker 1: inhabitants of those lands from the most frightening contagions. But obviously, 479 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: although this campaign unquestionably save lives, it did not eradicate smallpox. 480 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:42,920 Speaker 1: Although many of the vaccine programs that were implemented through 481 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: this expedition tried to be thorough, it really really takes 482 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: a coordinated, truly global effort to eradicate a disease entirely. 483 00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: The idea of herd immunity was not really articulated until 484 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century. So long after this was over, 485 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 1: So the idea that there was sort of a target 486 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:08,160 Speaker 1: percentage of vaccinated people who would protect everyone was just 487 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: not part of all this planning. So even after the expedition, outbreaks, 488 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 1: some of them serious, continued to happen all over the 489 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: Spanish Empire. As one example, Spain seeded the Philippines to 490 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:23,600 Speaker 1: the United States after the Spanish American War, and in 491 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: the interest of protecting American soldiers from the disease, the U. S. 492 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: Army started a vaccination program in the Philippines in nineteen hundred. 493 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: Army officials reported that anywhere from a quarter to a 494 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: third of the people reporting to vaccine clinics had already 495 00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: had smallpox, actual smallpox, not cowpox as a vaccine. One 496 00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 1: reason was that the outlying areas relied on getting vaccine 497 00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: LIMP from the Central Board in Manila, and in some 498 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: places those supplies were disrupted for years at a time. 499 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: Smallpox was eradicated from South America in nineteen seventy one, 500 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: so that was more than a hundred and sixty years 501 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:06,240 Speaker 1: after the expedition. It was declared eradicated worldwide in nine eight, 502 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: So today most people don't get a smallpox vaccine. Those 503 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: who do were generally in rolls, like being a member 504 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: of the military, people who would be at the most 505 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:20,640 Speaker 1: risk of exposure in the event of a bio terror attack. Also, 506 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: thanks to manufacturing and refrigeration and preservation technologies, the smallpox 507 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,240 Speaker 1: vaccines that exist today do not require this arm to 508 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: arm chain of human hosts. Obviously, they are much safer 509 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,920 Speaker 1: than they were in the nineteenth century. If you'd like 510 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:38,920 Speaker 1: to read a fictionalized version of this, you can check 511 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: out the novel Saving the World that is by author 512 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: Julia Alvarez. This is also the second time one of 513 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,240 Speaker 1: Julia Alvarez's novels has come up on the show. We 514 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:49,480 Speaker 1: also talked about her novel In the Time of the 515 00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:53,320 Speaker 1: Butterflies in our episode on the Mirraball Sisters. Yeah, I 516 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,480 Speaker 1: read Saving the World when it very first came out. 517 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:01,200 Speaker 1: At that time, I was freelancing as a book reviewer 518 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:04,240 Speaker 1: as a side gig um, and that's actually where I 519 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:07,959 Speaker 1: first learned about this whole expedition because it's a first person, 520 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: uh not first person, it's a it's a fictional account 521 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: focusing on Isabel as one of the main characters, and 522 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: like her relationship with these boys who were in her care. Um, 523 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:20,000 Speaker 1: and the whole time I was reading, I was like 524 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,920 Speaker 1: this real, a real human to human chain of children 525 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,480 Speaker 1: that was many years ago. So um. I do not 526 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: remember a lot of detail about the book, but I 527 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: do remember reading it. Do you got some listener mail? 528 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: I do have listener mail. Uh. This listener mail is 529 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: from Lucy and it follows our Unearthed year ends that 530 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: came out at the very beginning of Also, before I 531 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:46,920 Speaker 1: read it, I just wanted to say thank you to 532 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: everyone who has sent us pictures of their knitting I have. 533 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: I have replied to a lot of those folks to 534 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: say thank you because they've been great, great pictures. But 535 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 1: thanks to everybody who has done that. So Lucy sent 536 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: this email. Lucy said, I an avid listener of the 537 00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: show and always love Unearthed. This time, however, I was 538 00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: so excited to hear the story of the missing song 539 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,839 Speaker 1: from the Muppet Christmas Carol. It's my favorite Christmas movie, 540 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:11,759 Speaker 1: and I sat down to watch it on Christmas Eve 541 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:13,920 Speaker 1: this year since I was feeling a little blue because 542 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: you know, just as when Love Is Gone should have 543 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,839 Speaker 1: played but didn't. Something in my nearly thirty year old 544 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:24,719 Speaker 1: brain that has watched the film as many times if 545 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,759 Speaker 1: not more, said wait a minute, where's that song? I 546 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,880 Speaker 1: thought I was losing my mind. I was especially confused 547 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: as I had watched it on a relatively new large 548 00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,360 Speaker 1: plus streaming service. Not sure if you can reference that 549 00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,360 Speaker 1: by name, and there was no reason to cut for 550 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 1: time on a TV broadcast. Turns out the DVD version 551 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,480 Speaker 1: must have made its way to that plus streaming service. 552 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,759 Speaker 1: Thanks for proving that I was in fact not imagining 553 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:50,040 Speaker 1: an entire song from the film, and thanks for everything 554 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: you do on the show. I have really enjoyed it 555 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:54,759 Speaker 1: for many years. I've attached a picture of my dog 556 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,359 Speaker 1: Cole for no other reason than I know you guys 557 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:01,080 Speaker 1: typically like to receive fun pet photo. Thanks Lucy. Thanks 558 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:03,239 Speaker 1: Lucy for the email and for the picture of Coal. 559 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 1: We've gotten several um sort of different variations on the 560 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,200 Speaker 1: same theme of the song when Love Is Gone uh 561 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:17,640 Speaker 1: from the Muppet Christmas Carol um. My understanding is that 562 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:20,080 Speaker 1: the master that they were going to be reused for 563 00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:24,239 Speaker 1: like the four K remaster, had been found, but they 564 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,919 Speaker 1: were not sure as of when it was reported whether 565 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: it was going to be ready to actually broadcast in time. 566 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 1: For the Christmas holiday. But we've also heard from lots 567 00:35:34,160 --> 00:35:38,920 Speaker 1: of people and like various configurations of recordings of the 568 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: Muppet Christmas Carol that they have and whether they do 569 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: or do not include the song when Love Is Gone. Um. 570 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: I think I saw one this morning where somebody said 571 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: they had both a full screen and a wide screen version, 572 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:56,360 Speaker 1: and in full screen the song is there, but in 573 00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,560 Speaker 1: wide screen the song is not. Um. So anyway, that's 574 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:06,239 Speaker 1: the ongoing saga of the missing song. UM. Thank you again, 575 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: Lucy for sending this email. If you would like to 576 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:10,879 Speaker 1: write to us about this or any other podcast, where 577 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,560 Speaker 1: History Podcast at I heart radio dot com and we 578 00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:15,920 Speaker 1: are all over social media and missed in History. That's 579 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,680 Speaker 1: where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. And 580 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcast and 581 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 1: the I heart radio app and anywhere else that get podcasts. 582 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,759 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 583 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 584 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,400 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 585 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:41,800 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.