Maurice Hilleman was 43 when he created the vaccine for mumps after his daughter contracted the illness in 1963. He swabbed the back of her throat, drove to his laboratory in the middle of the night, and turned the sample into the vaccine we use today. Hilleman single-handedly developed more than 40 vaccines, including the eight commonly given to children (measles, mumps, hepatitis A and B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia, and Haemophilus influenzae), saving millions of lives and preventing serious complications Unfortunately, those advances are now in danger. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.
Thank Maurice Hillman for the life-saving vaccines, especially for children, that are now under threat
Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die
