On July 6, 1885, a laboratory in Paris where Louis Pasteur worked had a visitor. It was a nine-year-old boy who was bit by a mad dog. Named Joseph from Alsace, France, the boy was in critical condition after being severely attacked by the crazed dog two days earlier. At the time, infection with rabies was almost a death sentence. The boy’s mother brought him to Paris to meet Pasteur, a 63-year-old chemist who has finished a rabies vaccine trial only on animals. Pasteur was waiting for the right time to secure the vaccine’s safety in humans.

However, Pasteur’s memory of witnessing people dying from rabies when he was nine might have moved his heart. Or the mother’s desperate move might have persuaded him to give it a try. If Pasteur, who was not even a medical doctor, went on to treat him and something went wrong, it could ruin his research work, too. Despite the risks, he took the courage to treat him.

From the evening that day, Pasteur injected his investigational vaccine for 10 days. Fortunately, no adverse reaction occurred, and the boy got better. However, it was too early to tell if the boy was cured because rabies had a two-month incubation period.

Sending the boy home, Pasteur gave him some money, envelopes, and post stamps. He asked the boy to report his conditions by letter every two days. The incubation period ended, but nothing happened. It was a miracle itself that nothing happened after being bitten by a dog with rabies. This meant success for Pasteur. He reported the case to the medical society at the end of October.

Patients not only from France but all over the world rushed to visit Pasteur. He gave shots to all patients. However, the treatment did not work all the time. The injection did not seem to be effective for those who came too late or whose symptoms were too severe. However, he still gave them shots and reported them as failure cases.

Opponents of the experimental vaccination attacked Pasteur, pointing to failure cases. Doctors and journalists condemned him for treating patients without a medical license. Despite the criticism, Pasteur kept providing the vaccine. As cases built up, the efficacy of the vaccine became clear. The horrifying disease rabies, which clinicians could not cure, was being controlled by the hands of Pasteur. He became a national hero and a world-renowned microbiologist. However, Pasteur never forgot to take care of his first patient. He also provided financial support and jobs at the laboratory for people who became “guinea pigs” at the early vaccination stage.

In 1940, World War II broke, and the German army struck the Pasteur Institute. The forces attacked even Pasteur’s grave in the basement of the institute. This happened probably because Germany and France have long been enemies in microbiology, too.

Aware of the situation, the old guard refused to open the door to the institute. The German soldiers forced him with guns and knives to do so. Feeling guilty for failing to protect the institute, the guard took his own life. The old man’s name was Joseph, the boy Pasteur saved 55 years earlier. This is a legendary story about the institute.

Now, we are suffering the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the heightened sense of crisis, people’s anticipation for a vaccine has grown even more. The government has clinched vaccine supply deals with many multinational pharmaceutical firms. Surprisingly, I heard that the pharmaceutical companies demanded that the government grant immunity from liability as a condition for pre-purchase deals. This means that if something goes wrong with their vaccines, vaccine makers are not responsible. It sounds like if Koreans don’t want their vaccines, the companies don’t want to bother, either because they can sell them to many people in other countries who wish to buy their vaccines.

Of course, the unprecedented pandemic might have made vaccine manufacturers anxious about any possible lawsuit if something goes wrong with vaccines.

However, if the pharmaceutical companies think about Pasteur, the pioneer of vaccination, they should be ashamed. Pasteur did not say to the boy's mother that he would not be responsible for the experimental treatment that she had wanted. Even after the successful treatment, Pasteur took care of the patient until his full recovery. The boy regarded Pasteur as his life savior for the rest of his life.

I heard drug companies run many advertisements to improve their corporate images. If one of them shows a more responsible attitude rather than claiming immunity from liability in this crisis, that company will be remembered by people worldwide, just like Pasteur.

<The writer is a specialist and the director of Dr. Park’s Neurology Clinic on Jeju Island. This column was published in the Kookje Daily News on Dec. 28.>