Sara Wheeler

How inoculation against smallpox became all the rage in Russia

After the English doctor Thomas Dimsdale inoculated Catherine the Great in 1768, a trend was set for the rest of the country

The English doctor Thomas Dimsdale, who inoculated Catherine the Great against smallpox in 1768. [Getty Images] 
issue 02 July 2022

The concept of vaccination evolved from 18th-century inoculation practices and many people contributed to the accretion of knowledge. This book focuses on two individuals: the Quaker doctor Thomas Dimsdale, who, from his small Hertfordshire surgery, pioneered a simple smallpox immunisation; and Catherine the Great, who summoned him all the way to St Petersburg to inoculate her and the teenage Grand Duke Paul.

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