[2] It inspired recent vaccination efforts such as that of Carlos Canseco, president of Rotary International, to start the worldwide program PolioPlus[3] to eradicate polio.

[4][5] Francisco Javier de Balmis was born in Alicante on 2 December 1753 and was baptized three days later at the Basilica of Santa Maria.

In 1786 he was appointed surgeon-major of the military hospital of San Juan de Dios in Mexico City, then the capital of New Spain.

In recognition of his work he was admitted to the Real Academia Médica Matritense (the predecessor to the Royal Academy of Medicine) and received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Mexico.

During 1788, on temporary leave from the army, he traveled throughout Mexico to devote himself to the study of local flora and traditional remedies used by natives.