"German Measles" Harry Meyer Jr Hand Written letter on 3X5 Card For Sale

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"German Measles" Harry Meyer Jr Hand Written letter on 3X5 Card:
$699.99

Up for sale "German Measles" Harry Meyer Jr Hand Written letter on 3X5 Card. 

ES-4796

Harry M. Meyer Jr., 72, a co-developer of the first safe and

effective vaccine against German measles who later retired as head of drug

regulation at the Food and Drug Administration, died of lymphoma Aug. 19 at the

Kenmore, Wash., home of a stepson. Dr. Meyer and a colleague at the National

Institutes of Health, Dr. Paul Parkman, reported success in 1966 with the first

inexpensive vaccine offering long-lasting protection against rubella and the

first test to measure rubella immunity. Women who contract the viral disease

during the first three months of pregnancy risk birth defects or death for

their babies. Dr. Meyer's work was spurred by a 1964 epidemic of German measles

that led to an estimated 12.5 million cases in the United States and birth

defects in about 20,000 children. By 1988, the number of reported cases dropped

to 225; there has been no big epidemic in the country since creation of the

vaccine and a later, more potent, vaccine. While serving as chief

of the laboratory of viral immunology at NIH, Dr. Meyer also headed a team in

1961 that carried out successful clinical trials in Africa of a vaccine for red

measles, or rubeola, developed by Nobel laureate Dr. John F. Enders. That

trial, involving eight West African nations and more than a million children,

demonstrated the practicality of administering vaccines in remote areas using

the then-experimental jet injection gun. In 1966, Dr. Meyer went on a health

care fact-finding mission to Vietnam with President Lyndon B. Johnson's

secretary of health, education and welfare, John W. Gardner. He traveled the

country in a small plane, visiting with local elders and health care

professionals. When NIH's division of biologic standards was transferred in

1972 to the FDA and renamed the bureau of biologics, Dr. Meyer was named its

first director and later directed the FDA's Center for Drugs and Biologics. He

was responsible for oversight on all experimental work on vaccines -- including

hepatitis, pneumonia, meningitis and whooping cough -- and pharmaceuticals and

approval for new medicines. He instituted independent panels to review drug

labeling and manufacturers' claims for vaccines and allergens and blood

products, and served on expert committees of the World Health Organization. He

was also a member of a federal AIDS task force during the first five years of

that epidemic. Dr. Meyer retired in 1986 as assistant surgeon general, with the

rank of rear admiral in the Public Health Service. Until 1993, he was president

of the medical research division of American Cyanamid Co. in New York,

directing development of pharmaceuticals. Dr. Meyer, who was known as Hank, was

a native of Palestine, Tex., and a graduate of Hendrix College in Arkansas. It

later granted him an honorary doctorate. He received his medical degree from

the University of Arkansas and did a residency in pediatrics at the University

of North Carolina. He served in the Army, interning at Walter Reed Army Medical

Center and working at its Institute of Research as a virologist. His work

included the first clinical trial of a smallpox vaccine administered with the

jet injector, a device that later helped eradicate the disease. He also worked

at Walter Reed on isolation of the Asian influenza virus. He joined NIH in 1959

as head of the virus research section in the division of biologics standards. Dr.

Meyer wrote 105 articles and textbook chapters and held patents derived from

his research. His honors included Meritorious and Distinguished Service medals

of the Public Health Service and awards from national medical societies,

colleges and other organizations. He was a fellow of the American Academy of

Pediatrics and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of

Science and other national pediatric, epidemiologic, research and medical

organizations. 

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