[Production of vaccines in Chile, the importance of local supply]

Abstract

In Chile, vaccines were produced from the late 19th century to the early 21st century without interruption. The production was carried out in State institutes, from where the health service was supplied for the vaccination programs. In addition to manufacturing, packaging and distributing vaccines, the State institutes, in particular the Instituto Bacteriológico (IB), exported vaccines to Latin America and carried out research and development, standing out in this area with the Fuenzalida-Palacios vaccine for the control of human and canine rabies. The present study provides a list of vaccines produced in Chile at State institutes between the end of the 19th century and 2005, and a discussion on the visions of the State role that justified the actions regarding the production of vaccines in Chile. The developmental State of the mid-twentieth century gave way to the neoliberal State that was institutionalized with the 1980 constitution, which defines the subsidiary role of the State that has guided the discussion on local vaccine production in the last decades.