13 - Oceanic Vaccine

Summary

Chapter 13 completes the study of vaccine’s encirclement of the globe by examining its introduction in Mauritius, Cape Colony and New South Wales in 1804, Indonesia in 1804–5 and the Philippines and Canton (Guangzhou) in 1805. The seeding of vaccination around the Indian Ocean, in the southern latitudes and around the South China Sea reveals a complex pattern of movements, with vaccine from India brought to Mauritius and Cape Town, with carefully packed cowpox sent directly from London to Sydney and with Mexican boys going arm-to-arm with Filipinos. The spread of vaccination around this vast region rarely led to continuity of practice, except in European enclaves, in Mauritius and parts of the Indonesia and the Philippines, where enslaved or subject populations were available to maintain the vaccine supply. Vaccination nonetheless saved lives, helped to suppress smallpox in gateway cities, laid foundations on which the practice could be rebuilt and extended and show-cased the benefits and costs of colonial medicine.