Reverend Rowland Hill and a Role for Religious Leaders in Vaccine Promotion.

The Reverend Rowland Hill, MA, was a well-liked 18th-century British preacher who became one of the greatest vaccination advocates of his time.1 Born on August 23, 1744, into a wealthy family in the English countryside, Hill enjoyed a privileged upbringing and attended Cambridge University. There Hill met his destiny through a chance encounter with George Whitefield, a traveling preacher and founder of Methodism. Inspired by Whitefield, Hill left academia after earning an MA and was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England.2 Assigned to a small-town ministry, Hill grew restless and set off, as did Whitefield, on preaching tours in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. In time, Hill became one of the most popular ministers in the British Isles, regularly drawing crowds of thousands to dynamic open-air sermons.3 (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print March 21, 2019: e4-e5. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305012).