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Dennis Busby obituary
Dennis Busby started work at the National Institute for Medical Research in 1934 and became head technician in its bacteriology and virus division
Dennis Busby started work at the National Institute for Medical Research in 1934 and became head technician in its bacteriology and virus division
JonMarsh
Thu 22 Apr 2021 13.15 EDT
Last modified on Thu 22 Apr 2021 13.58 EDT
My friend and former colleague Dennis Busby, who has died aged 101, was the first person in the world to receive the flu vaccine, in 1936, when working as a lab technician at the National Institute for Medical Research in Hampstead, north London. It was scientists at NIMR, including Wilson Smith and Sir Christopher Andrewes, who discovered the influenza virus. Dennis later recalled that he “had the honour of making the first vaccine and getting the first injection”.