May 14, 1796: The Cowpox Test That Led to the First Vaccine #Shorts
On May 14, 1796, English doctor Edward Jenner scratched cowpox into a boy's arm, and the test led to the first successful vaccine.
- Smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 people a year in 18th-century Europe. Doctors already used variolation, deliberately giving people material from smallpox sores, which was safer than catching it naturally but still risky. (Riedel, Proc. Bayl. Univ. Med. Cent., 2005; CDC)
- Jenner took cowpox matter from the hand of milkmaid Sarah Nelmes and inoculated James Phipps, the 8-year-old son of his gardener. (CDC; Dr Jenner's House)
- Later, Jenner exposed the boy to smallpox, and he never fell ill. Using a child this way reflects the ethics of its time; the challenge itself was variolation, a standard treatment then. (CDC; Riedel; The Conversation)
- Latin vacca means cow. Jenner called cowpox "variolae vaccinae," the root of vaccination. On May 8, 1980, the World Health Assembly declared smallpox eradicated. (Riedel; WHO; CDC)
Which medical breakthrough do you think saved the most lives?
Sources
- S. Riedel, "Edward Jenner and the history of smallpox and vaccination," Proc. Bayl. Univ. Med. Cent., 2005
- CDC, "History of Smallpox"
- WHO, Smallpox
- Dr Jenner's House, Museum and Garden, "James Phipps' Cottage"
- A. George, "Judging Jenner: was his smallpox experiment really unethical?", The Conversation, 2016
Images
- "Dr Jenner performing his first vaccination on James Phipps," painting by Ernest Board, c. 1910, public domain
- "Portrait of Edward Jenner," after James Northcote, Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0
- "The hand of Sarah Nelmes infected with the cowpox," Jenner's Inquiry (1798), Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0
- "The Cow-Pock, or the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!", James Gillray, 1802, public domain
- "Directors of Global Smallpox Eradication Program," CDC, 1980, public domain
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