Dimensions of vaccination campaigns in contemporary Mexico

For the first decade of the 20th century, the Balmis arm-to-arm vaccination method was still practiced, although the risks of origin were still present.

At the end of the 19th century, the Health Code, created by the Higher Health Council to dictate public hygiene measures, recommended vaccinating children from four months of age. By the beginning of the 20th century, this practice became mandatory and said institution was in charge of providing and registering the number of vaccinations that were mainly carried out in the capital of Mexico.

One of them is exemplified in this document in which, with the creation of the National Bacteriological Institute in 1905, the Health Council was asked to stop using the previous technique because a girl contracted syphilis after being vaccinated.

The installation of dispensaries was necessary for its operation. The document you observe exposes the importance of these and their benefits to combat venereal diseases. It should be noted that the dispensaries favored the health project that was intended to be strengthened throughout the country with campaigns and hygienic education given by nurses, as well as the dissemination of sanitation activities.

In the presidential time of Plutarco Elías Calles, actions were proposed aimed at innovating in the production and application of immunizations, as well as the promotion of a Department of Public Health in order to generate strategies such as hygienic education programs and the installation of medical services throughout the country.

In preventive practice, the Department faced tensions with the scientific methods developed. On 4 December 1926 it was published in the Official Journal that the Dick and Schick tests would be compulsory for every infant. 

Since the mid-twentieth century, Mexican public health institutions have intensified vaccination. In 1952 smallpox was eradicated, with reinforcement campaigns in 1968 and 1970 for the Olympic Games and the World Cup. In 1953, an intense campaign fought a polio epidemic and continued into the following years. To this end, the infrastructure of existing institutions such as the Ministry of Public Education was used.

In 1952, American virologist Jonas Edward Salk developed the first effective polio vaccine without secondary problems. His method was to intramuscularly inject the virus into the kidney tissue of apes to develop antibodies synthetically.

In Mexico, the first recorded case of polio occurred in Orizaba, Veracruz in 1946 and affected 9,000 people.  The Ministry of Health and Public Assistance considered moving apes to the Chapultepec Zoo for breeding and replicating Salk's vaccine. The application of the method was effective, since by 1990 the last case was registered in the state of Jalisco.

In 1962, the Consular Migration Service facilitated the entry of Belizean citizens who sought refuge in the country after Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The Mexican Consulate in Belize was instructed not to require a typhoid vaccination certificate.  Over time, bilateral epidemiological programmes were tightened and formally established in 1984.  

In 1962, the Consular Migration Service facilitated the entry of Belizean citizens who sought refuge in the country after Hurricane Hattie in 1961. The Mexican Consulate in Belize was instructed not to require a typhoid vaccination certificate.  Over time, bilateral epidemiological programmes were tightened and formally established in 1984.  

Mexico has contributed to vaccination campaigns in the midst of international conflicts through humanitarian aid. With the crisis triggered in Africa by Nigeria's war against Biafra (1967-1970) also came diseases. Mexico expressed solidarity with those affected through its representation at the United Nations and in August 1968 a batch was sent with doses of vaccine against variolose, tetanus toxoid and tetanus antitoxin to support the inhabitants of Biafra.

Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, the capacities of regional vaccination application were refined in Mexico.

One of the cases of gradual extension of local to regional vaccination was carried out in Guerrero, in the south of the country. Before the 1960s, the area of operation was reduced to offices of the Ministry of Health and Assistance in some cities, but by 1970 a mass vaccination was achieved that reached a total of 171,614 children in a total of 1,719 localities.