One of the most important tasks must be the introduction of the inoculation (…) in all the sites ”. In the midst of the current coronavirus pandemic, these words could have been spread today by any government in the world on social media and no one would be surprised. What is extraordinary about them is that they were penned 234 years ago and bore an unmistakable signature: Catherine, Empress of Russia.
That recommendation, which because it came from who they came was actually an order, is part of a letter that Catherine the Great wrote on April 20, 1787. The empress was on a trip to the Crimea and the Russian Empire and other countries in Europe they suffered from one of the usual eighteenth-century epidemics, in this case smallpox. In the letter, he instructed Count Pyotr Rumiántsev, governor of Little Russia (a region of the Russian Empire in what is now Ukraine) on how to organize an effective immunization campaign.
As with the covid, in the 18th century the Russians were reluctant to inoculate themselves, in this case against smallpox
The MacDougall auction house, specializing in Russian art, is currently exhibiting the historic letter in Moscow, along with a portrait of the Empress by court portraitist Dimitri Levitski. Afterwards, both pieces will move to London, where they will be sold to the highest bidder from December 1. The sale price of the lot is estimated at 1.2 million pounds, or 1.4 million euros.
In presenting the letter, the director of the auction house, Yekaterina MacDougall, related that time to the current pandemic. “In view of the current conditions we have to be proud of Catalina,” he said. In the letter she sent to Field Marshal Rumiántsev, Catherine II assured that immunization at the state level was necessary, especially to protect the most vulnerable population.
MacDougall compared the “incredible” campaign of the empress to convince the population that they had to be vaccinated with the current situation. “One of the most important tasks must be the introduction of inoculation against smallpox, which, as we know, causes great damage, especially among ordinary people,” reads the letter that can be visited these days in the gallery of the Zubovs’ estate, a historic mansion from the same period.
The Russian empress, who despite being born German ruled the Russian Empire between 1762 and 1796, did not force the Russians to be vaccinated. “I knew the people would rebel against this,” MacDougall said. Nothing more current. Russian President Vladimir Putin has made many appeals to the population to be vaccinated. And the Government makes balances to force citizens to go through the needle (incentives, half punishments and currently the covid pass with a QR code is being prepared for transport and leisure areas), but without it becoming mandatory. Despite the fact that Russia registered the world’s first vaccine against the coronavirus (Spútnik V), until last Monday only 36.7% of the population had received the complete guideline.
Catherine the Great’s letter was part of a private collection. “But it has attracted attention now, due to the current events” of covid, explains by phone Natalia Righini, spokeswoman for the auction house.
Before being presented in public, the authenticity of the document and the empress’s autographs were verified by historian and academic Oleg Khromov. The expert called the letter “exceptional” and said that it is “a miracle” that it has been preserved until today.
Smallpox or plague were common epidemics in the European 18th century. The French King Louis XV died from the first in 1774.
The Russian empress was afraid of dying of smallpox, and she had a doctor from England go to Russia to inoculate her against this ailment. He was the first person in Russia to do so, in October 1768, at the height of the epidemic raging across the continent.
At that time the method of variolization was used, a technique used before the invention of the vaccine by the British Edward Jenner. It consisted of extracting material from the pustule of a sick person, which was then injected into a healthy person through small wounds in an arm or leg so that the disease would pass slightly. Khromov explained that the empress was given a sample from a child. He had a fever for several days and then recovered. The mortality rate among those vaccinated in this way was at that time 2%, twenty times lower than among those who did not get variolized.
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