The production of the smallpox vaccine in Türkiye, 1840-1980

Abstract

In order to cape with counter the smallpox epidemics that frequently occured the vast Ottoman geography, the Vaccine Administration was established in 1840 in the Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane (currently Istanbul Faculty of Medicine), and smallpox vaccine production took start (1840). The vaccine strains were imported from Paris, propagated through human passages and provided free of charge to the public and army in the Payitaht (royal capital) Istanbul. The material was contained in glass tubes or vaccination pens and sent to all provinces free of charge Towards the end of the 19th century, smallpox vaccine production took start in smallpox vaccine stations in France, and the Ottoman government switched from importing smallpox strains to smallpox vaccine production in the official Imperial Vaccination Center (1892). However, vaccine tubes and vaccines were sent to the Balkans, remote provinces in Anatolia and especially to the Arab Peninsula through postal service. Delivery by the means of transport of that period took a lot of time, and the vaccines spoiled on the way and would not hold. In order to solve this problem, it was decided to open filigree branches in remote provinces at the beginning of the 1900s, but the planned branches could not be activated due to lack of financial means, and a few opened branches