On September 15, Fairfax County Health Department epidemiologist Dr. René F. Najera gave a presentation at the National Vaccine Law Conference on the history of vaccines with a focus on those forgotten by history who contributed to their development. 

Here are just a few of the people he highlighted.

• In the early 1700s, Onesimus, an enslaved man in the Massachusetts Colony, saved Boston from smallpox.
• Joseph Meister was the first human to receive the rabies vaccine in the 1880s. He lived at the service of the Pasteur Institute in Paris and stayed behind to defend the Institute and its laboratory when the German army occupied France. 
• Dorothy Horstmann discovered that polio was caused by three types of the same virus and Isabel Morgan discovered how polio was transmitted. Their discoveries allowed for future development of an effective polio vaccine. 

We continue to reap the rewards of vaccine development across history. Are you updated on your vaccinations? Whether it is childhood immunizations, flu shots, or shingles, make sure you are protected from preventable diseases. Learn more about immunizations and how to stay up-to-date on yours.

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