In April of 1947, readers of this publication flocked en masse to our building at 175 E. Broadway, rolled up their sleeves, and got stuck with a vaccine.
The scene, replete with bespectacled gents, women in house dresses and young children, was part of something bigger: a rapid, mass vaccination against smallpox. By the time the first two weeks of the effort were over, 5 million New Yorkers had been inoculated thanks to the city’s new health commissioner, Dr. Israel Weinstein, and his rapid response; Mayor William O’Dwyer’s expediting of vaccine supplies; and the millions of residents who queued up, rain and shine, to fend off the deadly disease.