![Guerra Vaccino-Obrigateza!](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Guerra_Vaccino-Obrigateza%21.jpg)
The Vaccine Revolt or Vaccine Rebellion (Portuguese: ''Revolta da Vacina'') was a period of
civil disorder
Civil disorder, also known as civil disturbance, civil unrest, or social unrest is a situation arising from a mass act of civil disobedience (such as a demonstration, riot, strike, or unlawful assembly) in which law enforcement has difficulty ...
which occurred in the city of
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(November 10–18, 1904).
Background
At the beginning of the 20th century the city of Rio de Janeiro, then
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
of Brazil, although praised for its beautiful palaces and mansions, suffered from serious inadequacies in basic
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
. Such problems included insufficient water and sewer systems, irregular garbage collection, and overcrowded tenements. Many illnesses proliferated in this environment, including
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
,
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
,
typhus
Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure.
...
and
leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
. Epidemics of
yellow fever
Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...
,
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and
bubonic plague
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...
occurred on an intermittent basis. Yellow fever was by far the most serious of the three, killing an estimated 60,000 Rio de Janeiro residents between 1850 and 1908. Although there were periods of respite from this particular disease, these were almost invariably marred by lesser outbreaks of the others.
Beginning in 1902,
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Rodrigues Alves
Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, PC (; 7 July 1848 – 16 January 1919) was a Brazilian politician who first served as president of the Province of São Paulo in 1887, then as Treasury minister in the 1890s. Rodrigues Alves was elected the ...
launched an initiative to sanitize, modernize, and beautify the city. He gave plenary powers to the city's mayor,
Pereira Passos
Francisco Franco Pereira Passos (29 August 1836 – 12 March 1913) was a Brazilian engineer and politician. He was mayor of the Federal District of Brazil from 1902 to 1906, nominated by President Rodrigues Alves. During his tenure, Pereira Passos ...
, and to Director General of Public Health Dr.
Oswaldo Cruz
Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz, better known as Oswaldo Cruz (; August 5, 1872 – February 11, 1917), was a Brazilian physician, pioneer bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.
He occup ...
, to execute sweeping improvements in public sanitation.
The mayor initiated an extensive urban reform program, popularly termed the ''Bota Abaixo'' ("Break it down"), in reference to the demolition of older buildings and tenement houses, with subsequent conversion of the land to stately avenues, gardens, and upscale homes and businesses. This resulted in the displacement of thousands of poor and working-class people to peripheral neighborhoods, naturally leading them to become resentful of the city government and suspicious of what it might demand of them in the near future.
[ For his part, Dr. Cruz created the ''Brigadas Mata Mosquitos'' (Mosquito-Killing Brigades), groups of sanitary service workers who entered homes in order to exterminate the ]mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es which had been transmitting yellow fever.[ The campaign also distributed ]rat poison
Rodenticides are chemicals made and sold for the purpose of killing rodents. While commonly referred to as "rat poison", rodenticides are also used to kill mice, squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks, porcupines, nutria, beavers, and voles. Despite ...
in order to halt the proliferation of the bubonic plague, and required proper handling, storage, and collection of garbage.
Uprising
To eradicate smallpox, Dr. Cruz convinced the Congress to approve the Mandatory Vaccination Law on October 31, 1904, authorizing sanitary brigade workers, accompanied by police, to enter homes and apply the vaccine
A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifie ...
by force.[
]
Rio de Janeiro's population was confused and discontented by this time. Many residents had lost their tenement housing to the new developments, while others had had their homes invaded by health workers and police. Articles in the press criticized the action of the government and spoke of possible risks of the vaccine. Moreover, it was rumored that the vaccine would have to be applied to the “intimate parts” of the body (or at least that women would have to undress in order to be vaccinated), stirring further outrage among the conservative underclasses and helping to precipitate the rebellion that followed. Many intellectual contingents within Brazilian society opposed the law as well, including the Positivist Church, medical associations, and much of the National Congress. Although most of these objections stemmed from the practice's perceived infringements upon individual rights, vaccination was still considered a valid subject of debate among the global scientific community at the time.
On November 5, the opposition created the ''Liga Contra a Vacina Obrigatória'' (League Against Mandatory Vaccination). Formed by a coalition of radical republican politicians, ideological factions within the army, and journalists, this group subsequently began to recruit trade unionists at large gatherings held at the ''Centro de Classes Operárias''. The violence finally began when a few young attendees leaving one of these meetings argued with a police officer, and were promptly arrested. Witnesses to this incident furiously besieged the police station to which the men were taken, and continued to fight with cavalry officers brought in to disperse the excited mob.[
From November 10 through 14, Rio de Janeiro descended into violence as each party to the conflict became entrenched in its position. Rioters looted shops, overturned and burned ]trams
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
, made barricades, pulled out tracks, broke poles and streetlights, and attacked federal troops with rocks, sticks, debris, knives, and stolen guns. Factory laborers revolted in their own workplaces on the outskirts of town, while impoverished and evicted townspeople attempted to secure control over the heart of the city. The momentum of opposition forces reached its zenith on November 14, when cadets of the '' Escola Militar da Praia Vermelha'' (Military College of Praia Vermelha) mutinied against President Alves for his rejection of the terms presented to him in a thinly-disguised ultimatum by General Olimpio da Silveira. Silveira's march on the presidential palace was thwarted, however, when his would-be allies at the academy of ''Realengo
Realengo is a neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The lower and middle-class neighborhood is between the Mendanha and Pedra Branca mountains.CNN Wire Staff.Hero officer kept Brazilian school massacre from being even worse" ...
'' were arrested before they could mobilize. In response, the government suspended mandatory vaccination and declared a state of siege. Its forces successfully drove the rebels from their strongholds beginning on November 15, and concluding on November 18 after a grueling period of close-quarter fighting in the district of Saude.[ The rebellion was contained, leaving 30 dead and 110 wounded.
]
Aftermath
Despite its relatively swift downfall, the revolt convinced the mayor and his cabinet to abandon the forced-vaccination program for the time being. This concession was ultimately demonstrated to have been quite superficial, however, as the policy was re-instated several years later. Whatever popular frustrations or progressive ideals that the anti-vaccination movement and its allies might have expressed were thoroughly swept aside with the re-imposition of lawful authority, as the processes of unequal economic development and gentrification continued to accelerate following the uprising. Trade unions were severely marginalized, increasingly dismissed by political elites and middle-class professionals as an unsophisticated reaction against modernization. Moreover, the economic power of these native-born Brazilian workers was further diminished as increasingly large quantities of foreign laborers arrived in Rio de Janeiro on an annual basis. Senator Lauro Sodre, a prominent critic of mandatory vaccination and who had collaborated with Silveira to establish himself as Brazil's new president, subsequently enjoyed a figurehead status among Rodrigues Alves's opposition.[
The punishments dealt to participants in the civil conflict varied significantly across political, social, and economic status. Surviving cadets of the 'Escola Militar da Praia Vermelha' were granted amnesty despite committing what amounted to treason, along with Sodre and prominent members of the Positivist Church. The poor rank-and-file of the revolt were much less fortunate, as many hundreds were deported to both the offshore detention facility of the ]Ilha das Cobras
Ilha das Cobras () is an island located within Guanabara Bay in the city and state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is east of the neighborhood Guanabara. It is home to the Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro base of the Brazilian Navy
)
, color ...
and the frontier region of Acre
The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imp ...
. Those transported to this distant latter territory were shipped aboard "coastal packet-boats," where it was claimed that they faced egregious conditions.[
Unfortunately for Rio de Janeiro, the city suffered additional smallpox outbreaks following the cessation of the mandatory vaccination program. The final straw which prompted the reversal of even this concession in 1909 was a particularly brutal epidemic the previous year, which killed 9,000 residents.][ The international medical community at large regarded Cruz's efforts in the affair with considerable sympathy; in 1907, the 14th International Congress on Hygiene and Demography in Berlin awarded him their gold medal. The Federal Serum-Therapeutic Institute, at which Cruz had worked, was also renamed the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in his honor.]
In fiction
* Scliar; Moacyr – "Sonhos Tropicais" (Tropical Dreams) Cia das Letras 1992
* "Sonhos Tropicais" a 2001 Film adaptation of cited Scliar's book. Synopsis:
in english
an
in Portuguese
See also
*Vaccine controversy
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
*Revolutions of Brazil
This article lists major rebellions and revolutions that have taken place during Brazilian history.
Colonial Brazil (1500–1822)
* Vila Rica Revolt (1720)
* Slave Rebellions (From its peak in the mid-17th century until the abolition of slaver ...
*Vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*Meihy; José Carlos & Bertolli Filho; Claudio – "Revolta Da Vacina" Ática 1995
*Sevcenko; Nicolau – ”A Revolta da Vacina” Cosac Naify 2010 (1st edition – Brasiliense 1984) {{ISBN, 978-85-7503-868-0
First Brazilian Republic
Health in Brazil
20th century in Rio de Janeiro
Rebellions in Brazil
1904 in Brazil
1904 riots
20th-century rebellions
Vaccine controversies
Smallpox vaccines
November 1904 events