Revisiting Brazil’s Public Health Rebellion (A Century Before Bolsonaro)
Revisiting Brazil’s Public Health Rebellion (A Century Before Bolsonaro)
What do 1904’s smallpox vaccination riots in Rio de Janeiro tell us about today’s Brazil?
Brazil is witnessing unprecedented scenes of protestors raging against lockdowns in front of hospitals full of COVID-19 patients fighting for their lives Yet the extreme politicization of publich health in Brazil brings uncanny echoes from the past In 1904, Rio de Janeiro was Brazil’s capital and its most important city That year, the federal government enacted a law making smallpox vaccinations mandatory – and in November, shortly after officials explained how they would enforce the new law, the city erupted in riots, with thousands of people fighting police and the army in the...
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