Did you know: Smallpox vaccine

The first smallpox vaccine arrived in Manila from Spain on April 15, 1805.

Dr. Francisco Xavier Balmis, court physician of the Spanish crown, headed the expedition to transport the vaccine to the Philippines.

On April 15, 2004, 199 years after the Balmis expedition reached the country, a marker was installed at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, in honor of the expedition. Marielle Medina, Inquirer Research