April 21 in Medical History
24 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Observed today
- Christian feast day: — Holy Infant of Good Health
Events
- Swine flu vaccine for a non-epidemic strain enters testing
- Centers for Disease Control announce that a virus discovered in France causes AIDS
- Serbian army bombs distress clinic in Goradze Bosnia, 28 killed
- At least 25,000 extra people across 11 countries have died during COVID-19 pandemic that were not previously counted according to new mortality figures
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock and UK government come under criticism for lack of personal protective equipment and testing for COVID-19 (despite pledge to test 100,000 a day only 19,000 done April 20th)
- Mexico says it is entering stage three of its COVID-19 outbreak, with rapid spread and hospitalizations from 8,772 infections and 712 deaths
- Aid and ReopeningSouth African President Cyril Ramaphosa announces $26 billion aid package and plans for gradual reopening of economy as cases reach 3,465 with 58 deaths
- US Supreme Court rules abortion pill mifepristone can remain widely available, blocking ban by Texas U.S. District Judge
- British Parliament approves legislation permanently banning sale or supply of tobacco products to anyone born in 2009 or after
Born on this day
- Alexander AndersonAmerican engraver and illustrator (Shakespeare), born in New York City (d. 1870)
- Oskar HertwigGerman embryologist (discovered fertilization), born in Friedberg, Germany (d. 1922)
- Rollo MayAmerican psychologist (Love & Will), born in Ada, Ohio (d. 1994)
- Kemal SatırTurkish physician and politician (died 1991)
- James DobsonAmerican evangelist and founder of Focus on the Family, born in Shreveport, Louisiana (d. 2025)
- Mark WainbergCanadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (died 2017)
- Josef FlammerSwiss ophthalmologist
- David Servan-SchreiberFrench physician, neuroscientist, and author (died 2011)
- Liz CarrEnglish comedian, actress Silent Witness), and disability rights activist (Better Off Dead?), born in Port Sunlight, Merseyside, England
Died on this day
- Jan PalfijnFlemish physician/inventor (forceps), dies at 79
- François DuvalierDictator and President of Haiti (1957-71), dies of heart disease and diabetes at 64 (1907-1971)
- Ludvigsen [Gustav Lorentzen]Norwegian pop and bilhdren;s music singer-songwriter (Knutsen & Ludvigsen), musical therapist, and UNCEF ambassador, dies of cardiac arrest at 63
- Duncan WatsonBritish solicitor and disability activist (President of World Blind Union, 1988-92), dies at 88
- Ian ToddEnglish surgeon, President of the Royal College of Surgeons (1986-89), dies at 94