First Groningen corona syringe added to University Museum collection

UMCG board president Ate van der Zee presents the syringe to rector Cisca Wijmenga.

First Groningen corona syringe added to museum collection

The syringe, the vaccine vial, and several other objects that were used to administer the very first corona vaccine in Groningen have been given to the University Museum.

3 February om 10:37 uur.
Laatst gewijzigd op 8 February 2021
om 14:18 uur.

February 3 at 10:37 AM.
Last modified on February 8, 2021
at 14:18 PM.

Door Lidian Boelens

3 February om 10:37 uur.
Laatst gewijzigd op 8 February 2021
om 14:18 uur.

By Lidian Boelens

February 3 at 10:37 AM.
Last modified on February 8, 2021
at 14:18 PM.

Lidian Boelens

Social media redacteur Volledig bio Social media editor Full bio

Nurse Harm Wedman was the first person in Groningen to receive the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine on January 6. UMCG board president Ate van der Zee presented the syringe and other objects to rector magnificus Cisca Wijmenga on Tuesday evening. ‘They may seem like ordinary objects, but they have great significance’, said the rector.

If it’s safe to do so by then, the vaccination attributes will be on display at the UMCG this autumn, says the University Museum’s Arjen Dijkstra. The museum regularly organises exhibitions in the hospital on the history of medical sciences in Groningen. The new exhibition will naturally be about the coronavirus and vaccinations.

Camper and Reinders

‘The groundwork for vaccination was laid in this city’, Dijkstra explains. ‘By Geert Reinders and Petrus Camper. We’re now adding the continuation of that history to our collection.’

Petrus Camper (1722 – 1789) was a versatile physician. He was appointed to the university in Groningen in 1763. He wrote about smallpox inoculation and was an expert in how to fight the cattle plague.

Camper built on the results of Groningen autodidact Geert Reinders (1737 – 1815), one of the founding fathers of immunology.

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