Apr 20, 2020 07:51 AM
(This post was last modified: Apr 20, 2020 07:59 AM by C C.)
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/obs...-pandemic/
EXCERPT: Pioneering virologist Maurice Hilleman, now oft-forgotten, detected that 1957 pandemic from across the globe, convinced reluctant U.S. health officials to take notice, and single-handedly fostered a vaccine that became publicly available. All in just four months.
An irascible, no-holds-barred Montana farm boy born in the midst of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, Hilleman survived diphtheria and Great Depression-era poverty to earn a PhD in microbiology and chemistry at the University of Chicago. Practical and impatient, he turned down the prestige of academia and primarily worked in industry [...] where he led vaccine research for 25 years.
An iconoclast who slung swear words like the proverbial sailor, Hilleman helped develop an astounding 40 vaccines: to prevent measles, mumps, rubella, pneumonia, meningitis, hepatitis A and B, and other infectious diseases. The measles vaccine alone has saved an estimated one million lives a year. “Maurice’s genius was in developing vaccines, reliably reproducing them, and [taking charge] of all pharmaceutical facets, from research to marketplace.” [...] The New York Times later noted that researchers credit him with “saving more lives than any other scientist in the 20th century.”
[...] On the morning of April 17, 1957, Hilleman was sitting in his office at Walter Reed reading a New York Times article about an influenza outbreak in Hong Kong. [...] “Hilleman put down the paper: “My God,” he said, “This is the pandemic. It’s here!”
Not one to follow chain-of-command protocols, Hilleman quickly cabled a U.S. Army lab in Japan and asked them to investigate. [...] Hilleman received the sample a few weeks later, and he and his team worked 14-hour days to isolate the virus strain, for which few people had any antibodies.
At first, Hilleman had a tough time convincing experts [...] the flu was a threat ... He predicted the flu would arrive in the U.S. in September, just as schools opened. ... Hilleman sent virus samples to six American-based companies that produced influenza vaccines ... he would have to convince companies to make and distribute vaccine in four months. "Influenza vaccine had never been made that quickly” ... Hilleman ignored federal drug regulators: “I knew how the system worked,” Hilleman said. “So I bypassed the Division of Biologics Standards, called the manufacturers myself, and moved the process quickly.”
The first flu vaccine lots were produced in June, within weeks of Hilleman’s request. Vaccinations started in July. The influenza pandemic hit the U.S. in early September (just as Hilleman predicted). Forty million doses were given over the next three months. Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and public health regulations require safety and efficacy tests for new vaccines, which take more time [...] Massive potential loss of life, as Hilleman realized, calls for high-level action.
[...] Maurice Hilleman, who would have been 100 years old last year, is not around to advise WHO, as he had done for years, on a COVID-19 vaccine. The virologist died from cancer in 2005 ... Obituaries at the time lauded his accomplishments, yet why is Hilleman not more widely known, like Edward Jenner, Jonas Salk, or Louis Pasteur?
Outspoken within the field of virology, Hilleman did not seek recognition by naming any vaccines after himself [...] Hilleman worked mostly for industry, not academia, so his work was less widely touted ... Longtime friend Anthony Fauci ... has said Hilleman’s contributions were “the best kept secret among the lay public." (MORE - details)
EXCERPT: Pioneering virologist Maurice Hilleman, now oft-forgotten, detected that 1957 pandemic from across the globe, convinced reluctant U.S. health officials to take notice, and single-handedly fostered a vaccine that became publicly available. All in just four months.
An irascible, no-holds-barred Montana farm boy born in the midst of the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, Hilleman survived diphtheria and Great Depression-era poverty to earn a PhD in microbiology and chemistry at the University of Chicago. Practical and impatient, he turned down the prestige of academia and primarily worked in industry [...] where he led vaccine research for 25 years.
An iconoclast who slung swear words like the proverbial sailor, Hilleman helped develop an astounding 40 vaccines: to prevent measles, mumps, rubella, pneumonia, meningitis, hepatitis A and B, and other infectious diseases. The measles vaccine alone has saved an estimated one million lives a year. “Maurice’s genius was in developing vaccines, reliably reproducing them, and [taking charge] of all pharmaceutical facets, from research to marketplace.” [...] The New York Times later noted that researchers credit him with “saving more lives than any other scientist in the 20th century.”
[...] On the morning of April 17, 1957, Hilleman was sitting in his office at Walter Reed reading a New York Times article about an influenza outbreak in Hong Kong. [...] “Hilleman put down the paper: “My God,” he said, “This is the pandemic. It’s here!”
Not one to follow chain-of-command protocols, Hilleman quickly cabled a U.S. Army lab in Japan and asked them to investigate. [...] Hilleman received the sample a few weeks later, and he and his team worked 14-hour days to isolate the virus strain, for which few people had any antibodies.
At first, Hilleman had a tough time convincing experts [...] the flu was a threat ... He predicted the flu would arrive in the U.S. in September, just as schools opened. ... Hilleman sent virus samples to six American-based companies that produced influenza vaccines ... he would have to convince companies to make and distribute vaccine in four months. "Influenza vaccine had never been made that quickly” ... Hilleman ignored federal drug regulators: “I knew how the system worked,” Hilleman said. “So I bypassed the Division of Biologics Standards, called the manufacturers myself, and moved the process quickly.”
The first flu vaccine lots were produced in June, within weeks of Hilleman’s request. Vaccinations started in July. The influenza pandemic hit the U.S. in early September (just as Hilleman predicted). Forty million doses were given over the next three months. Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and public health regulations require safety and efficacy tests for new vaccines, which take more time [...] Massive potential loss of life, as Hilleman realized, calls for high-level action.
[...] Maurice Hilleman, who would have been 100 years old last year, is not around to advise WHO, as he had done for years, on a COVID-19 vaccine. The virologist died from cancer in 2005 ... Obituaries at the time lauded his accomplishments, yet why is Hilleman not more widely known, like Edward Jenner, Jonas Salk, or Louis Pasteur?
Outspoken within the field of virology, Hilleman did not seek recognition by naming any vaccines after himself [...] Hilleman worked mostly for industry, not academia, so his work was less widely touted ... Longtime friend Anthony Fauci ... has said Hilleman’s contributions were “the best kept secret among the lay public." (MORE - details)
