History of Vaccination: Smallpox

SMALLPOX, INOCULATION AND THE HISTORIC PRACTICE OF VARIOLATION

In 1796, an English physician and scientist, Edward Jenner, recorded proof that inoculation using cowpox (vaccinia virus) could provide immunity against smallpox. He was interested in how milk maids were immune to smallpox. He wasn’t the first to observe the phenomena. Jenner proved that exposure to cowpox was responsible for their immunity to smallpox, a disease that in the 18th century in England had a fatality rate of between 20 to 60 per cent with devastating impact on survivors including disfiguring scarring.

It is estimated that in the 20th century alone, 300 to 500 million people died from smallpox. For that reason, the smallpox vaccine has been credited with saving more lives than any other single medical intervention...