Throughout different periods in its past, the national metropolis has faced outbreaks of epidemic diseases. The efforts aimed at controlling and reducing their effects form singular episodes in urban history, where the Historic Center emerges as a fundamental protagonist. This composition details the narrative of how the inhabitants of the capital experienced immunization campaigns in the past, offering a panoramic view of the situation.
First traces of vaccination in the world
“Experiment, don’t just think,” were the words that the novel surgeon and anatomist, John Hunter, conveyed to his pupil Edward Jenner, as he addressed his concerns about an ingrained belief in the population: that those who had contracted cowpox were exempt from suffering smallpox in the future. Precisely, the young doctor evoked a memory from his childhood when he heard Sarah Nelmes, a woman who milked cows, affirm that she would never suffer the ravages of that disease on her face, since she had experienced its effects at some point in her life.
Edward Jenner, who would later be recognized as the founder of immunology, followed his mentor’s advice and undertook his research. Within a short time, he discovered that, by inoculating variolitic pus from pustules into the udders of cows in healthy individuals, they experienced an attenuated version of the symptoms, leading to future immunity against smallpox. On May 14, 1796, he was deeply gratified to observe that young James Phillips, whom he had vaccinated, showed no signs of illness or death after contact with smallpox-affected patients. This result was repeated with other subjects to whom he applied this process, which began to be called “vaccination” due to its origin related to cows.
Jenner’s journey was not without its challenges, however, as his findings, presented in his work entitled “An Inquiry into Causes and Effects of Variolae Vaccinae” in 1798, did not find favor in the London medical community. At the time, physicians were reticent about the therapy, concerned that patients might be transformed into cattle. This negative outlook affected public perception. In fact, Londoners came to believe that by undergoing vaccination, they might acquire cow-like characteristics. To this concern was added the rejection expressed by another sector of the population, arguing that this preventive method was unhygienic and incompatible with Christian values due to the use of bovine pustules.
Thus begins not only the chronicle of vaccines, but also that of adverse social responses, which at various times have bordered on distrust, indifference and collective fear. Attitudes that, in tune with the multiple socio-political, economic, cultural, discursive, scientific, ideological and symbolic changes, have hindered the adoption of this solution by large sectors of the population in all regions of the world.
Despite the doubt expressed by his colleagues in London, Jenner’s success quickly resonated in the international scientific community. Multiple detractors, critics and skeptics emerged, although there were those who were convinced of the validity of his discoveries. One of those who joined the latter group was Francisco Xavier Balmis, the most eminent surgeon of the Spanish Court, who encouraged Charles IV to adopt the novel vaccination method. A relevant circumstance paved the way for this adoption: the Infanta Maria Teresa, daughter of the monarch, had fallen ill with smallpox in 1794 at the age of four.
Vaccination arrives in Mexico
Thus it was that on November 30, 1803, the ship of the Royal Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition departed, arriving on Mexican shores in August of the following year. Its objective was to bring vaccines to Mexico City to combat the epidemic outbreaks of smallpox, which the population referred to as the “Black Lady”. Upon arrival, the Vaccination Committee encountered citizens apprehensive about immunization. In fact, the fear unleashed by the vaccine in the population was so intense that several inhabitants hid their children to prevent them from receiving this remedy.
In order to calm these reactions, Viceroy José de Iturrigaray chose to vaccinate his own son in the Casa de Niños Expósitos, which was located in different places over time, such as near the Plaza del Carmen between 1664 and 1667, and later near the Puente de la Merced from 1771.
His purpose was clear: to demonstrate to urban dwellers that this measure did not represent any danger, but rather offered protection. To reinforce this message, he toured the streets to disseminate essential information and ordered the publication of details in the pages of the Gazeta de México. These reports covered the places where the vaccines would be administered, along with scientific notes exploring their origin and advantages.
Fear of vaccination
Despite these efforts, the population’s fear and uncertainty persisted throughout much of the nineteenth century and even into the first decades of the twentieth century. Concomitantly, government intervention in the family sphere and in daily life increased. For example, authorities focused on persuading citizens to undergo free vaccination, especially those who lacked the resources to afford it.
This intention was reflected in an advertisement published in the Monitor Republicano on December 7, 1872, under the title “Benefit to the poor”. This advertisement pointed out that the vaccine was administered daily at the pharmacy on Olmedo Street, currently Correo Mayor, and urged people not to miss the opportunity to take their children to receive the immunization.
In parallel, the State implemented incentives for mothers whose children showed a favorable response to the vaccination process with bovine pus. Guidelines were established for primary school teachers to ensure that their students were protected through immunization.
The same was requested of physicians working in charitable institutions and hospitals, in order to ensure the protection of the residents of such establishments. A method of “itinerant vaccination” was devised, taking advantage of market days and other opportunities to immunize as many people as possible.
Vaccination campaigns
Vaccination campaigns were carried out in parishes and health centers, and advertisements were broadcast in the media to raise awareness among citizens about the importance of receiving the vaccine.
These advertisements provided detailed information on immunization locations and times, as noted in the Thursday, February 8, 1872 edition of the newspaper La Voz de México:
[…] it is administered every day at twelve o’clock
in the house number 8, Calle de las Escalerillas. On Tuesdays, at eleven o’clock, at the hospital
of San Hipólito. On Thursdays, at the same time,
in the quadrant of Santa. On Saturdays, at
plazuela de San Lucas, “Casa de la pólvora”.
On Sundays, at calle del Sapo [number] 8.
In the March 23, 1877 edition of El Pájaro Verde it was announced to readers that vaccination “is carried out daily, even on holidays, at noon on Calle de las Escalerillas, number 8”. Simultaneously, the Consejo Superior de Salubridad, the advisory body on health issues of the Mexican government since the end of the 19th century, reported through the newspaper La Voz de México in its edition of Thursday, August 9, 1888 that:
The vaccine is administered free of charge in the capital
, from eleven to twelve in the morning every
days, in the offices of the Council (Xicoténcatl street number 3); and at the same time on Mondays
and Saturdays in the parishes of Santa María
and San Cosme; on Tuesdays and Fridays in the parishes of
Santa Ana and San José; on Wednesdays and Thursdays
in the parishes of La Soledad and Santa Cruz and San Pablo,
and on Sundays in the parishes of Santa Catarina and
Santa Veracruz.
The remedy was also available at the private clinic that Dr. Muñoz established on Escalerillas Street around 1878. According to reports, the administration of the vaccine would continue there every day from twelve to one o’clock, with the direct supervision of doctors Liceaga and Alcorta. In later decades, Dr. Elcoro also followed the same path, offering his “smallpox vaccine ‘Precolaba’, always fresh”, in his laboratory located at number 5 of the Avenida de los Hombres Ilustres, currently known as Hidalgo Avenue, which crosses the north side of the Alameda Central.
Resistance to vaccination
Despite these tireless initiatives, citizens of Mexico City continued to resist vaccination. At other times, the authorities of the capital resorted to the use of force to immunize those who were reluctant. On Tuesday, February 20, 1900, an article published by El Universal reported that, in compliance with the law, the city authorities were forced to:
…to bring to obedience the many who
resisted to consent to the inoculation of
their children with the vaccinal lymph […] in the capital, only in certain months of the year
deploys activity and is seen in the streets
to the gendarmes, stopping the women
who carry in their arms their little ones to
register them and take them to the sanitary
offices when they do not find the scars of the vaccine on them.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Mexico City residents were reluctant to undergo vaccination due to a combination of fear, lack of information, distrust and ignorance regarding this medical procedure. In addition, there was concern generated by “some incidents in the administration of the vaccine that resulted in illnesses and even deaths of children […] the population is not naïve”.
Despite the collective responses of distrust and concern, the vaccines gradually made their way and added new episodes to the history of Mexico City. It is undeniable that to this day there are varied manifestations of apprehension towards health measures, both at the individual level and through the mass media. However, it is equally true that vaccines have been gaining the trust of large portions of the population, since thanks to them in previous times it was possible to control epidemic outbreaks, such as those of smallpox, mentioned above, or other diseases such as measles or polio, which affected the lives of the citizens of the capital until well into the twentieth century.
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