La expedición de Balmis

Today we can affirm that the model of the fight against Covid-19 has its origins in this pioneering medical epic. On November 30, 1803, the corvette María Pita set sail from the port of A Coruña. Inside are twenty-two orphaned children whose mission is to carry the recently discovered smallpox vaccine to overseas territories in their own bodies. Dr. Francisco Xavier Balmis directs this global vaccination health adventure known as the Balmis Expedition or Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the Vaccine. Accompanying him, among other expedition members, are José Salvany and Isabel Zendal. At the request of the Council of the Indies, Carlos IV authorized and financed the expedition that, if it became the greatest humanitarian feat in history, was due not only to the courage of those children who were forced to save the lives of more than half a million of people, but also to the courage of its director, Francisco Xavier Balmis, a model of health behavior. Balmis's was the first mass vaccination program in history and there is no humanitarian mission of comparable magnitude. His expedition was a beautiful example of what science and the adventurous spirit could do for humanity. The discoverer of the smallpox vaccine himself, Edward Jenner, wrote of the expedition: "I cannot imagine that a nobler and broader example of philanthropy than this is provided in the annals of history."