Abstract

GALVAN HERNANDEZ, José Luis. Will We Be the Executioners of our Own Children?. The Vaccination Commission in the Port of Veracruz, 1816-1817. Secuencia [online]. 2020, n.108, e1761.  Epub Oct 23, 2020. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i108.1761.

The purpose of this research is to create an initial approach to the operation and reception of the vaccination campaigns established in New Spain at the beginning of the 19th century after the expedition by doctor Balmis, who introduced the smallpox vaccine into the territories of the catholic monarchy. The greatest finding of this research is the good reception vaccination campaigns enjoyed in the port of Veracruz during the biennium 1816-1817, the work of local authorities to administer the new immunization method and its importance in the context of the War of Independence. In this respect, the research paves the way for future studies to focus on the organization and territorial scope of these vaccination campaigns during the period of war that ended the viceroyalty and to determine whether they continued during the early decades of independent Mexico.

Keywords : smallpox; vaccine; New Spain; war of Independence; medicine.