Dear members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community,
During the course of the last week, I came across a lovely story about vaccination that I would like to share with you:
The father of modern vaccines
One night in 1963, a little girl named Jeryl Lynn cried out for her father. She felt very sick with a sore throat. Her father felt her neck and discovered she had swollen glands. He took her temperature which showed she had a fever. What was wrong with her? Some of you may have guessed: Jeryl Lynn had mumps. Some of you might have had mumps. You can get a mild dose and not suffer very much but some children get very sick. They can go deaf or their brain is damaged. Sometimes children have died from mumps.
Fortunately, Jeryl Lynn’s father was a scientist and he took swabs so that he could preserve the virus. Those swabs became the Jeryl Lynn strain of the mumps vaccine, still used today. Many of you will have had the MMR vaccine to protect you against mumps and measles.
Jeryl Lynn’s father was Maurice Hilleman. He and his team developed over 40 vaccines that are estimated to save nearly eight million lives every year. He is one of the greatest vaccinologists of all time. Some of his vaccines you may know about and have been inoculated with — measles, mumps, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia and even the flu.
In 1957 there was an outbreak of influenza in Hong Kong that threatened to become a huge pandemic. Maurice found that it was a new strain of flu that could kill millions and created a vaccine. In 1968, there was another serious Hong Kong flu pandemic. Again, Maurice and his team helped develop a vaccine. Every year new strains of flu appear and every year a new vaccine is produced to protect us.
It is because of scientists like Maurice Hilleman that you probably have never heard of diseases like polio, smallpox, diphtheria, tetanus or scarlet fever. In some parts of the world, millions of children die every year from diseases like these, but now, because every year many more millions of children are vaccinated, some of those diseases have almost disappeared from countries like ours. Mothers and fathers no longer have to watch their children die from terrible diseases that can be prevented by vaccines. Children no longer suffer all their lives from the dreadful lasting effects of a childhood illness.
If you have never had mumps, it is thanks to Jeryl Lynn Hilleman, her father Maurice and a wonderful team of scientists. He truly was the father of modern vaccines. And there are many, many scientists still working hard today, developing vaccines for diseases like COVID-19.
We all live safer, healthier, longer lives because of the lifesaving vaccines they have made for us.
Source: Principal’s Digest, Vol 27, no. 22
Vaccination is a very topical discussion point in our world at the moment. Our news services are full of stories about the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines. There are stories about the devastation of the COVID-19 virus throughout the world and not for one minute do I wish to downplay the seriousness of the situation nor the tragedy of the worldwide deaths as the grief caused by the virus is very real. I am sure this piece was written to support the vaccination process and to highlight the importance of it also.
The story does also highlight another very important idea and it is one that we often talk about. Maurice Hilleman was born to a poor farming community in Montana, USA, one of eight children with his mother sadly passing when he was two days old. He was raised by an uncle and eventually he attended university on a scholarship and he went on to gain a PhD with an award-winning dissertation on chlamydia. Instead of choosing academia, he went to work in the pharmaceutical industry.
Maurice Hillman is a fantastic example of a person who used his skillset in service. He is a fantastic example of the concept of ‘Be Your Best, Give Your Best’. I am sure he lived a good life and earned a comfortable living too but, importantly, he chose a life of service.
The concept of service by our students has been highlighted to me over the past few weeks.
Firstly, because we were unable to have an Open Day or Taste of MLMC this year and because we are being inundated with requests for tours, the College is running two to three extra tours each week, some after school and some on weekends. Tour sizes have also been increased to accommodate more numbers. In taking the tours, student leaders and members of the Year 10 Peer Support group regularly attend to offer support, answer questions and help to keep the tour groups together. They often give the tour groups a small talk about their experience at MLMC. This is a great example of service. During last night’s tour I was particularly impressed with three of our Year 12 cohort: on a Thursday evening, these three Year 12 students stayed at the College to lead a tour between 4.00pm and 6.00pm. Amidst all that is happening in their busy lives, with the Year 12 Debutante Balls scheduled this weekend, with the pressure of study and the fast approaching end of semester, these students chose to stay and help. They chose to give back to the community of which they are part. Without naming them, I thank them and am proud of their service and the example they lead.
In the same way, over the last two weeks I have joined other staff and Year 12 students in setting up Catherine’s Cafe in the streets of Lilydale to serve those in need. This, too, is a fantastic example of our students using their talents to be of service. The van is a great concept. Run as a business through VCAL, the students operate the mobile cafe to make money. Their profit funds the cafe to provide hot drinks, toasties and snacks to those in need in the streets of Lilydale each Tuesday night. This is a great project of which we can all be proud. It is a community effort and has been successful because of the great work of a number of people. Also this week, I witnessed Year 9 students making biscuits as a part of the Compass program, some of which went to Catherine’s Cafe and some to other local charities.
In this year of 2021, this year of our 125 Year celebrations, this year in which we celebrate and thank all those who came before in service and Mercy, I am proud to witness these Mercy values in action in our College. It is important for us all to all to work to better ourselves and use our skill set to be of service. This too is a highlight of our College tours, of which I am proud.
“Be Your Best, Give Your Best.”
In the spirit of Catherine, may you all be blessed.
God bless
Philip A Morison
Principal
