“Unprecedented”. We’ve heard this word used time and time again to describe the unparalleled impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. But with over 170 years at the heart of community healthcare in the UK, Boots has lived through many crises, and each time the company has delivered on our duty to care for the nation during times of need.
Boots just recently launched its first COVID-19 vaccination site, but we have in fact championed mass immunization long before the inauguration of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) in 1948. Over the years, not only have the reassuring lights from Boots pharmacies been a warm and welcoming reminder that essential healthcare is available on the high street, but they have also helped accelerate access to some of the latest advances in pharmaceutical medicine.
From diphtheria and meningitis vaccinations, to cervical cancer and COVID-19, discover how Boots has been putting the ‘nation’ into ‘vaccination’ by taking a look at its vaccine history…
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In the mid-1920s, Boots collaborated with St Thomas’ Hospital in London to provide samples of a gonococcal vaccine that was used in its clinics. Boots transferred the vaccines into sterilised ampoules and vials to help make it more widely available to the medical profession, and each batch was tested in Boots Bacteriological laboratory before being issued. By the 1940s, these vaccines were available from all Boots stores.
Boots’ research team, which was based in the UK retailer’s hometown of Nottingham, also prepared bespoke vaccinations by isolating patients’ micro-organisms and then using them to provide immunity to the same individual.
