THE Vaccine Revolt it happened in 1904 and was motivated by the population's dissatisfaction with the mandatory vaccination campaign. This dissatisfaction was generated by a lack of information and occurred at a time of turmoil in Rio de Janeiro, as a result of the reforms carried out in the city by Rodrigues Alves and Pereira Passos.
readalso: Revolta da Chibate — uprising led by black sailors in Rio de Janeiro in 1911
Context: situation in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the century. XX
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Rio de Janeiroit was the capital and the biggest city in Brazil. The city had gone through significant events in recent decades, such as the Proclamation of the Republic and the Armada Revolt. In the year 1904, one more of these significant events marked this city.
During this period, Rio de Janeiro had around 800 thousand inhabitants and the
fame of being a city where people suffered from different diseases. The disorderly growth and the large movement of people, added to the lack of structure in the city and poor sanitation, caused different epidemics to spread there every year.Diseases like smallpox, tuberculosis, malaria, yellow fever, cholera, among others, spread easily, causing the death of thousands of people annually. Countless statistical data prove this|1|.
In 1850-51, 1/3 of the city contracted yellow fever (90,000 of the 270,000 inhabitants). Of those, more than 4,000 died.
In 1873, 3,659 people died of yellow fever, and in 1876, 3,476 people died of the same disease.
In 1891, more than 11,000 people died of different diseases: yellow fever, smallpox, tuberculosis and malaria.
THE meat the time proved to be incapable of solving the problem of diseases. that so affected the capital of Brazil. Many doctors thought that the large number of epidemics in Rio de Janeiro was related to miasmas, the putrid odors that circulated through the air of the city. Doctors blamed the swamps as emitters of miasmas and said the hills prevented them from dissipating.
In addition, many doctors said that the agglomeration of the poor in the central region and its “bad habits” contributed to leaving that region of the city as one of the most punished by diseases. Thus, many marshy areas in Rio de Janeiro were landfilled and ideas of expelling the poor from the center of Rio de Janeiro gained traction.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
→ Rodrigues Alves and the reform of Rio de Janeiro
The idea of reform in Rio de Janeiro gained strength with Rodrigues Alves, president elected in 1902. He promised to carry out the reform of capital drawing on the example of the Paris reform. For this he named FranciscoPereiraSteps as mayor of Rio de Janeiro.
THE Rio de Janeiro's reform was concentrated in the central region, a place that had narrow streets and a large population concentration due to the tenements, residential buildings that housed thousands of people. These places were inhabited exclusively by the poor, including ex-slaves and their descendants.
This venture put into practice the entire authoritarianism of the president and mayor. Dozens of buildings were demolished so that new avenues could be built, as well as new buildings such as the Theatro Municipal. The city hall also made demands that affected merchants and used the police to repress cultural manifestations, such as Carnival parties.
The architectural reform of Rio de Janeiro forced poor downtown residents to movein to more precarious places downtown, but many were forced to move to the city's hills. In addition, along with the architectural reform, the city underwent a major sanitary operation, which was under the responsibility of the General Directorate of Public Health (DGSP) and its head, the sanitarist Oswaldo Cruz.
Accessalso: do you know which Çconstitution was in effect at First Republic?
→ Sanitary Campaign
When Oswaldo Cruz was appointed to deal with the sanitary problems of Rio de Janeiro, three diseases were chosen as the main targets: feverYellow, smallpox and plaguebubonic. For yellow fever, the DGSP carried out the training of mosquito brigades, which had the function of moving from residence to residence behind mosquito outbreaks responsible for the transmission of the disease.
You mosquito swatters invaded houses by force behind the outbreaks and for cleaning. They could also demand the renovation of a building, as well as its ban. Finally, mosquito nets still took all patients to hospitals located in Caju (a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro) and Niterói. Those who contracted more serious contagious diseases, such as smallpox, were taken to other hospitals.
To combat bubonic plague, a campaign ofrat extermination in Rio de Janeiro. The population was encouraged to capture and deliver the rats to the DGSP and, in return, would receive financial compensation. Soon, many villagers made rat breeders to secure extra income.
In the case of smallpox, the campaign was very controversial and displeased the population, leading them to rebel. Oswaldo Cruz proposed the mandatory vaccination, and the population, dissatisfied with this, took to the streets.
readalso: Prestes column - movement that fought against oligarchies for two years in the interior of Brazil
Vaccine Revolt Outbreak
In June 1904, a law was proposed that made vaccination against smallpox mandatory. The law was not very popular with the population, mainly because of the wide ignorance and misinformation about the vaccine. The popular dissatisfaction was manifested by the formation of institutions that acted against the obligatory nature of the vaccine.
This popular dissatisfaction continued until, on the day 9 of November, the press announced that a new law would be debated: this law created restrictions for people who did not get vaccinated. Thus, the unvaccinated could not, for example, get married. This was the trigger for the population to take to the streets to protest against the vaccine.
The places that concentrated the protests were the Center and the port region. From the 10th to the 16th, intense protests took place in several places and there were undoingintrams, street lamps and even the street floor. Protesters and police exchanged fire and even cobblestones were thrown at the repressive forces.
Outcome
President Rodrigues Alves mobilized the ANDarmy to contain the situation and, only after the decree of state of siege, on the 16th, the situation was under control. In the midst of protests, dissatisfied military, under the leadership of Marshal Hermes da Fonseca, tried to carry out a coup against the president. He even considered fleeing, but remained in the capital and the coup plotters were defeated.
The balance of the Vaccine Revolt was:
31 dead;
110 injured;
461 exiled to Acre.
THE vaccination campaign managed to eradicate smallpox from Rio de Janeiro.
Grades
|1| BENCHIMOL, Jaime Larry. Urban reform and Vaccine Revolt in the city of Rio de Janeiro. In.: FERREIRA, Jorge and DELGADO, Lucilia de Almeida Neves (eds.). Brazil Republican: the time of oligarchic liberalism: from the Proclamation of the Republic to the 1930 Revolution. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilization, 2018, p. 215-272.
Image credits
[1] RM Nunes and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
