At the end of 2019 the Coronavirus broke out in Wuhan, China. By Christmas 2021, over 148,000 people were dead in Britain and over 5 million worldwide. Today’s global death rate stands at almost 6.9 million, with the UK losing over 226,000 people. Fear paralysed nations as the virus spread, leading to a global financial crisis because of lockdown, and huge social unrest. During this time two vital words were often discussed: antiseptics and vaccines. Antiseptics help us in the battle against spreading the virus, and vaccines enable us to be more protected: both are connected with Scotland. The first person was Lord Joseph Lister, the pioneer of antiseptics, the father of sanitising; the second was Edward Jenner, the pioneer of vaccination.
Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, named after Edward Jenner, worked long and hard, among others, and produced a vaccine, with millions of doses being produced by the pharmaceutical company called AstraZeneca. Amidst all the fear, multitudes found relief and hope because of the vaccines being rolled out. Few though, would realise the connection of an English Christian with Scotland.
Edward Jenner, the son of Revd Stephen Jenner, grew up in Berkeley in Gloucestershire. In 1763 he was appointed as an apprentice with the surgeon at Chipping Sodbury, where he gained invaluable experience in surgery. Seven years later he furthered his career by becoming an apprentice in surgery and anatomy with the nation’s leading Scottish surgeon, John Hunter, at George’s Hospital in London. By 1773, Jenner was practicing as a family doctor and surgeon in his home town of Berkeley. It was later in 1792 that Jenner applied for the degree of MD from the University of St Andrews, because Scotland was a world leader in medicine during that period.
Although Jenner has been rightly credited as being the pioneer of vaccination against small pox, he had already been influenced by John Hunter in London, for Hunter had not only been using an earlier form of inoculation, but they had also discussed the possibility of cowpox being a cure for small pox. The writers of an article from the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (Vol 83, April 1990), state that “The overriding question is as to why Jenner waited until 1798 to complete his experiments and publish his results – 5 years after Hunter’s death?”
By 1979 the World Health Organisation declared that they had finally eradicated smallpox, which had killed millions of people. It was from Jenner’s work that the science of immunology grew. As a Christian he remarked to a friend as he was dying in 1823: “I am not surprised that men are not grateful to me; but I wonder that they are not grateful to God for the good which He has made me the instrument of conveying to my fellow creatures.”
“Heal the sick…” (Matthew 10:8, NKJV).
Photo Credit: James Gathany Content Providers(s): CDC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons