Vaccine and smallpox vaccination in nineteenth century Bahia.

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the perceptions and actions of public authorities regarding the process of introduction, production, conservation, distribution, and application of the smallpox vaccine; the emergence of institutions associated with the vaccine and vaccination; and its main obstacles in Bahia in the nineteenth century. The article emphasizes the local and regional dynamics of this process. It addresses the problem of smallpox in colonial Bahia, the arrival of the Jennerian vaccine, the diffusion of the vaccination method, the establishment of health institutions, and the disease control measures implemented as of 1808. In the context of the post-independence and Imperial Brazil, this article addresses smallpox outbreaks and discusses the problems related to vaccine and vaccination listed by the governors of the province of Bahia and local efforts to introduce the animal vaccine. This article is based on printed primary sources published in Bahia in the nineteenth century, as well as through dialogues with specialized literature.