The Vaccine
Painting of Dr. Jenner vaccinating eight -year- old James Phipps.
"My inquiry into the nature of the Cow Pox commenced upwards of twenty-five years ago. My attention to this singular disease was first excited by observing, that among those whom in the country I was frequently called upon to inoculate, many resisted every effort to give them the Small Pox. These patients I found had undergone a disease they called the Cow Pox, contracted by milking Cows affected with a peculiar eruption on their teats. On inquiry, it appeared that it had been known among the dairies from time immemorial, and that a vague opinion prevailed that it was a preventive of the Small Pox. This opinion I found was, comparatively, new among them; for all the older farmers declared they had no such idea in their early days-a circumstance that seemed easily to be accounted for, from my knowing that the common people were very rarely inoculated for the Small Pox, till that practice was rendered general by the improved method introduced by the Suttons: so that the working people in the dairies were seldom put to the test of the preventive powers of the Cow Pox.
"In the course of the investigation of this subject, which, like all others of a complex and Intricate nature, presented many difficulties, I found that some of those who seemed to have undergone the Cow Pox, nevertheless, on inoculation with the Small Pox, felt its influence just the same as if no disease had been communicated to them by the Cow. This occurrence led me to inquire among the medical practitioners in the country around me, who all agreed in this sentiment, that the Cow Pox was not to be relied upon as a certain preventive of the Small Pox."
- Edward Jenner On the Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation
"In the course of the investigation of this subject, which, like all others of a complex and Intricate nature, presented many difficulties, I found that some of those who seemed to have undergone the Cow Pox, nevertheless, on inoculation with the Small Pox, felt its influence just the same as if no disease had been communicated to them by the Cow. This occurrence led me to inquire among the medical practitioners in the country around me, who all agreed in this sentiment, that the Cow Pox was not to be relied upon as a certain preventive of the Small Pox."
- Edward Jenner On the Origin of the Vaccine Inoculation
The arm of Sarah Nelmes, a dairymaid, who had contracted cowpox.
"Variolation was the natural precursor to the discovery of vaccination. The major difference was that in vaccination, it was material from a cowpox pustule---instead of from a smallpox pustule--- that was scratched into the skin. The discovery, however, has been acclaimed as one of the most momentous in medical history. It was the world's first vaccine.
In 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner, an English country physician and naturalist, was aware of local lore claiming that milkmaids who had been infected with cowpox did not acquire smallpox. He undertook a series of practical experiments to determine whether this was true. As a first step, he took some pus from the hand of a dairymaid, Sarah Nelmes, and inoculated it into two short scratches on the arm of eight-year-old James Phipps. Three days later, the inoculation site developed redness and then a pustule. Six weeks later, Jenner variolated Phipps---and learned that he was protected against smallpox.
Jenner prepared a brief paper describing his success and submitted it to the Royal Society for publication. The president of the Royal Society, in 1797, declined to publish it on the grounds that the ideas were too revolutionary and that too little experimental work had been done. Jenner, undaunted, extended his
observations by performing the same inoculation on a number of others. A year later he published a pamphlet himself, titled (in part): An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae... known by the Name of Cow Pox. Variola vaccinae means, literally, 'smallpox of the cow,' and so the procedure became known as vaccination."
- D.A. Henderson; Smallpox: The Death of a Disease
In 1796, Dr. Edward Jenner, an English country physician and naturalist, was aware of local lore claiming that milkmaids who had been infected with cowpox did not acquire smallpox. He undertook a series of practical experiments to determine whether this was true. As a first step, he took some pus from the hand of a dairymaid, Sarah Nelmes, and inoculated it into two short scratches on the arm of eight-year-old James Phipps. Three days later, the inoculation site developed redness and then a pustule. Six weeks later, Jenner variolated Phipps---and learned that he was protected against smallpox.
Jenner prepared a brief paper describing his success and submitted it to the Royal Society for publication. The president of the Royal Society, in 1797, declined to publish it on the grounds that the ideas were too revolutionary and that too little experimental work had been done. Jenner, undaunted, extended his
observations by performing the same inoculation on a number of others. A year later he published a pamphlet himself, titled (in part): An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae... known by the Name of Cow Pox. Variola vaccinae means, literally, 'smallpox of the cow,' and so the procedure became known as vaccination."
- D.A. Henderson; Smallpox: The Death of a Disease
Fear of Vaccination
Even though the discovery of vaccination was a medical triumph, not everyone shared the same enthusiasm. However, Jenner's discovery would help start and support the eradication program that got rid of smallpox.
"Jenner's pamphlet sparked a firestorm of criticism from the clergy and the medical establishment, who argued that inoculating a healthy with material from a diseased animal was repulsive, unsafe, and ungodly. A satirical cartoon published in 1802 in a London newspaper showed the recipients of cowpox vaccine sprouting bovine horns and tails."
- Jonathan B. Tucker; Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox |
"Despite the lack of a drug treatment or cure for smallpox, Edward Jenner understood that widespread vaccination had the potential to eradicate the disease by depriving it of susceptible human hosts. In 1801, he predicted, "It now becomes too manifest to admit of controversy, that the annihilation of the Small Pox, the most dreadful scourge of the human species, must be the final result of this practice."
In fact, 180 years were to elapse between Jenner's discovery of vaccination and the global eradication of smallpox. The missing elements were not scientific knowledge or technical capability, but rather the logistical infrastructure and international political will needed to undertake such a vast and costly campaign."
-Jonathan B. Tucker; Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox
In fact, 180 years were to elapse between Jenner's discovery of vaccination and the global eradication of smallpox. The missing elements were not scientific knowledge or technical capability, but rather the logistical infrastructure and international political will needed to undertake such a vast and costly campaign."
-Jonathan B. Tucker; Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox