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Boots pamphlet 1930

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.