"The Vaccine is Ours!"

One morning last week, Christmas shopping under a broiling sun, portenos (inhabitants of Buenos Aires) saw a terrible sight in the Plaza de Mayo. About 1,000 people, many in pajamas and hospital gowns, milled before the Government House, chanting hoarsely: "The vaccine is ours!'' They were advanced tuberculosis patients, who had escaped from Buenos Aires' four big contagious hospitals. A few-dozen lepers had joined them. What they cried for was a new tuberculosis "cure," developed by a 40-year-old scientist named Jesus Pueyo Rodriguez.

A tear-gas squad rushed to the Plaza, but was warned that one whiff might kill scores of the diseased mob. A messenger ran to fetch Minister of the Interior Miguel Culaciati, who was attending a funeral. At noon Minister Culaciati received an exhausted, coughing delegation, promised to look into the matter of the vaccine.

No doctor, Jesus Pueyo claims to have cured almost 200 patients with his vaccine, given in courses of 20 injections under the guidance of Dr. Francisco Romero. He will not reveal the formula of his vaccine, says it is made by neutralizing tubercle bacilli from human sputum with a special chemical. The vaccine, he holds, stimulates production of tuberculosis antibodies. Last fall the newspaper La Critica took up Pueyo's cause. The National Department of Hygiene promised to experiment if he revealed his formula. He refused. A newspaper row started. Then patients took matters into their own hands.

Doctors in Buenos Aires were cautious and divided over the vaccine last week. Most physicians are skeptical, hold that it might be possible to develop a preventive vaccine, but that diseased, ruptured lungs can never be healed by any "formula."

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