On this day in 1895, a local drugstore owner was advertising his fresh stock of vaccine.
The ad doesn't give much information about exactly what vaccines G.H. Graydon had in stock, other than their claimed freshness (which was probably a real concern at the time, when refrigeration technology was still new and expensive). Although back in 1895, the choices were limited — smallpox, rabies, cholera and tetanus were the only vaccines in existence.
Diphtheria, a contagious condition caused by bacteria, is another possibility. "The Strangler," as it was called, was especially deadly to children and those over 40. While a vaccine wouldn't be invented until the 1920s, government vaccination records show that Alberta purchased and administered diphtheria antitoxin in 1895. However, the antitoxin would technically have been a treatment, not a vaccine.
Whatever it was that George H. Graydon was advertising, it's pretty likely that people were buying. Graydon had arrived in Edmonton a year earlier to take over a failing drugstore. He would continue to run the store for 46 years and was dubbed the "dean of Alberta dispensers" by historian Tony Cashman in Edmonton: Stories from the River City.
The Graydon name remains part of the city in Graydon Hill, a neighbourhood in southwest Edmonton. It isn't named for the druggist, however, but rather his wife Rosetta; she was a trailblazing advocate for animal rights and the founder of the province's first humane society.
Almost 125 years later, pharmacies are again advertising their vaccine supplies as Alberta rolls out shots to protect against coronavirus. More than a million doses of vaccine have now been administered in the province, many by 1,300 participating pharmacies. To find out more about when you can get your shot, visit the Alberta Health Services website.
This is based on a clipping found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse — follow @VintageEdmonton for daily ephemera via Twitter.