El Programa Nacional de Vacunación: orgullo de México

Abstract

FOLLOWING A BRIEF YET ILLUMINATING HISTORY OF VACCINATION AROUND THE WORLD AND IN MEXICO, THERE IS A DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY TRIP MADE BY BALMIS FROM SPAIN TO CUBA, MEXICO, GUATEMALA AND THE PHILIPPINES. THE CREATION OF THE NATIONAL BACTERIOLOGY INSTITUTE THAT BEGAN THE PRODUCTION OF THE SMALL POX VACCINE, AND THE FOUNDING OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF VIROLOGY WHICH STARTED PRODUCING THE ANTIPOLIOMYELITIC TRIVALENT VACCINE, UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF DR. ALBERT SABIN, IMPROVED THE PRODUCTION OF THE ANTIRABIES VACCINE AND TETANUS TOXOID, AND FINALLY PRODUCED THE RUBELLA VACCINE USING THE EDMONSTON-ZAGREB STRAIN. IN 1990, MEXICO WAS ONE OF THE SEVEN COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN THE PRODUCTION OF BIOLOGICALS AND, DESPITE A BRIEF LAPSE IN WHICH MEXICO DROPPED FROM THIS GROUP, THE BIRMEX PROJECT INITIATED IN 1999 GAVE PRIORITY TO CONTINUE THE CONSOLIDATION PROCESS. SINCE 1991, THE UNIVERSAL VACCINATION PROGRAM HAS BEEN IN OPERATION ACHIEVING ALMOST ALL OF ITS OBJECTIVES: ERADICATION OF POLIOMYELITIS, DIPHTHERIA, RUBELLA AND NEONATAL TETANUS: CONTROL OF PERTUSSIS AND SEVERE FORMS OF TUBERCULOSIS. IN ADDITION, THE PROGRAM INCLUDES IMPORTANT AIMS SUCH AS THE STRENGTHENING OF EPIDEMIOLOGIC SURVEILLANCE THROUGH IDENTIFICATION, NOTIFICATION AND IMMEDIATE CONTROL OF CASES AND OUTBREAKS, PROMOTION AND EDUCATION FOR HEALTH AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, AS WELL AS FOLLOWING THE "VACCINATION CARD". SINCE 1983, NATIONAL VACCINATION DAYS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED, AND SINCE 1993, NATIONAL HEALTH WEEKS HAVE BEEN ENLARGED WITH VACCINATION AGAINST RUBELLA SHOWS THE VACCINATION PROGRAM TO BE A QUALIFIED SUCCESS, THANKS TO THE GOOD USE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY, POLITICAL WILL AND SOCIETY´S SPIRIT OF SOLIDARITY.