The Romanov Vaccine: How Catherine the Great helped eradicate smallpox

In the midst of a fierce smallpox pandemic, in October of 1768, Empress Catherine II was the first in Russia to vaccinate herself against this terrible disease, and then the heir to the throne, 14-year-old Pavel Petrovich. She took a huge risk and won, becoming an example for her subjects.
At that time, inoculation was done using the variolation method. Several cuts were made on the arm of the patient, and a tiny amount of the smallpox virus from an infected person would be inserted. Of course some people inoculated this way also died of small pox, but the chance of death was 20 times less compared to dying from the disease itself.
Empress Catherine studied this method thoroughly, and finally chose a doctor who would perform the variolation - the Englishman Dr Thomas Dimsdale, who
arrived in St. Petersburg that previous summer. At that point, many were already infected at Court, and some had died.
A six-year-old peasant boy, named Sasha Markov, became the donor of smallpox material for the Empress. He was brought to the Winter Palace at night, and Catherine was injected with a virus from his infected lymph. The next morning, the Empress left for Tsarskoe Selo. For several days she did not feel any side effects. But five days later, she developed chills, fever, and swelling of glands. A few pockmarks appeared, which "burst, darkened and disappeared ". Catherine lost her appetite and had a constant headache. Finally, a week later, the Empress recovered, and the people were informed. Shortly after that, Grand Duke Paul was inoculated the same way. Years later, his wife, and their elder sons went through small pocks variolation as well. The boy Sasha Markov recovered, and was granted a title of nobility, his family coat of arms depicting a bare arm with a pockmark; he received a prefix to his surname: Ospenniy (Smallpox). From then on, this smallpox vaccination method was used all over Russia. The disease weakened every year and was eventually completely defeated. Empress Catherine the Great, having decided to volunteer as a subject of such a risky experiment, set a brilliant example for her subjects. The Senate adopted a decree of thanksgiving to the Empress and the Heir "for the magnanimous and famous feat towards the well-being of their subjects by inoculating smallpox" and established a celebration on the 21st day of November every year. This decree emphasized the outstanding role of the imperial family in the dissemination of important medical practices and ordered the annual celebration to commemorate this. On November 22, 1768, senators, state staff and deputies gathered in the Cathedral Church of the Nativity (on the site where Kazan Cathedral now stands), where the decree was read after a mass. Catherine strove for the widest possible application of the smallpox vaccination. Vaccines became mandatory for pupils of state educational institutions, in particular cadet corps. In order to encourage parents to vaccinate children against smallpox, an award of one ruble in silver was introduced for each child who underwent the procedure. Even a table medal was created, to commemorate the introduction of smallpox vaccination in Russia on October 12, 1768. For over a century, Catherine's direct descendants and subjects alike, were all inoculated for smallpox.

From Nicholas II' 1916 diary:
"11th June. Went to molebna at 10 o'clock with everyone, in light of Olga's name day. Alix stayed in the train until breakfast... Read and by 8 o'cl. went [back] to the train. Everyone got vaccinated against smallpox. Alexei got a headache and towards the evening his temperature rose to 38.4"

From Tsarevich Alexei's 1916 diary:
"11/24 July, Monday. Today, Mama, my sisters and I were vaccinated against smallpox... We got to the train in the evening, I had a headache when we arrived. Temperature of 38.2. I went to bed early."

In the year 1980, the World Health Organization announced the complete eradication of smallpox on the planet. The victory over smallpox is one of the greatest achievements of human civilisation. One of the important contributors to this path was the "Romanov imperial inoculation" of Catherine the Great, - the gift she made to herself and the Russian society during the Age of Enlightenment.

Thanks for watching! I welcome your comments and observations here, which will also help my channel get noticed by the YouTube algorithm. If you're enjoying my videos, please support my channel and help it grow by subscribing and hitting that like 👍button, or otherwise interacting. Thank you again!

List of my books: https://www.theromanovfamily.com/?page_id=169

Instagram: @in_the_steps_of_the_romanovs

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DiaryOfOlgaRomanovRoyalWitness/

IN THE STEPS OF THE ROMANOVS Facebook discussion group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/353550028430335/?ref=share
Background music: She's The Moon
Musician: Carl Storm

Видео The Romanov Vaccine: How Catherine the Great helped eradicate smallpox канала In The Steps Of The Romanovs