Francisco Javier Balmis (December 2, 1753 - February 12, 1819) was born in Alicante and, after a few years as a military practitioner, was authorized to practice as a surgeon by the Court of Protomedicato of Valencia, participating in the siege of Gibraltar as a military surgeon.
He was assigned to America, where he was appointed major surgeon of the Hospital de San Juan de Dios in Mexico, graduating in Arts at the University of that city. There he investigated the use of different plants for a new treatment of venereal diseases, which was adopted throughout Europe.
He published several works on these subjects and collaborated with the Botanical Garden of Madrid. Once in Spain, he was appointed chamber surgeon to Charles IV, and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Balmis learned of Jenner's work on the smallpox vaccine, and that same year published the "Introduction for the conservation and administration of the vaccine and for the establishment of boards to care for it", with an innovative design.
He proposed to King Charles IV to apply the vaccine in the territories of the Spanish Crown. Thus, in 1803 the Board of Chamber Surgeons approved his project "Derrotero que se debe seguir para la propagación de la vacuna en los dominios de Su Majestad en América", and he was appointed director of the Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna (Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the Vaccine).
The Philanthropic Expedition, which circled the globe between 1803 and 1806, spread the vaccine throughout the Americas and Asia, reaching as far as China and the island of St. Helena. It is estimated that it directly vaccinated between half and 1.6 million people, and by organizing, wherever it went, the necessary infrastructure for its sustained administration, the medium and long-term impact was even greater. Jenner himself said of it that "I cannot imagine that in the annals of history a nobler and more comprehensive example than this can be found".
Balmis had deep Catholic convictions, as attested to in his will, which he made before leaving for the Expedition. The completely altruistic character of the Expedition is in keeping with his Christian faith. In his honor, the Spanish Army named the military deployment to fight against COVID-19 in Spain "Operation Balmis".
PhD. IMDEA Food. Member of the Society of Catholic Scientists of Spain.
