Today's artifact caught my eye while pulling items to display for a recent tour: It's a c. 1940s "Istúriz style" vaccinator kit, complete with vaccinator handle, tweezers, vaccinator tips and racks, as well as printed instructions in English and Spanish. The kit was designed to administer the smallpox vaccine in large populations.
Close-up view of the kit |
The printed instructions emphasize the efficient, and relatively painless qualities of his vaccination process: "The operation is very quick in itself; no blood is seen, no pain is felt, and there is no reason for the operator to touch with his fingers, even slightly, the part affected."
Detail of the illustration in the kit's printed instructions (English side) |
Dr. Jesús María Istúriz
was born in Venezuela, where he received his medical training at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas.
In 1936 he was commissioned by the Ministry of Health to conduct a study
of public health practices in the United States. He patented his vaccinator in
the United States, Cuba, and Venezuela, where it was used for administering
vaccines in both healthcare and agriculture.[1]
Dr. Istúriz's 1937 U.S. patent application
explains, "The object of the invention is to provide an improved
technique and apparatus through which successive vaccinations against smallpox
may be effected upon large numbers of persons, with great rapidity, without
pain to the individual and with absolute safety against the infection of one
person from another."[2]
According to
the CDC, smallpox was eliminated in the United States in 1949, and the last
naturally occurring case in the world was in Somalia in 1977. As a result,
routine vaccination against smallpox was deemed no longer necessary.[3] Today, the United States currently maintains
enough vaccine to vaccinate everyone in the country in the case of a smallpox
emergency.
Thanks to vaccines, smallpox has been
effectively eradicated from the world. But Dr. Istúriz's larger concern of providing
efficient, safe vaccination of populations is still a matter of urgency for
world public health officials: The World Health Organization's World Immunization Week 2015 is coming up on April 24-30, 2015,
with the theme, "Close the immunization gap," a focus on providing
equitable access to vaccines worldwide under the Global Vaccine Action Plan of
2012. Under GVAP, countries are aiming for vaccination
coverage of ≥90% nationally and ≥80% in every district by 2020.[4]
[1] “Biografía de Istúriz, Jesús María,” Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), http://www.ivic.gob.ve/memoria/bios/isturiz_jesus_maria.htm
[2] Jesús María Istúriz,
“Vaccinating Method and Means,” US Patent 2 131 284A, issued Sept. 27, 1938. Accessed via http://www.google.com.ar/patents/US2131284
[3] “Smallpox Fact Sheet: Vaccine Overview,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Emergency Preprardness and Response, http://www.emergency.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/vaccination/facts.asp
[4] “Fact Sheet No. 378:
Immunization Coverage,” World Health
Organization Media Centre, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs378/en/