On this day, Edward Jenner, an English physician and scientist, first tested his hypothesis that a small quantity of pus taken from cowpox blisters could be used to vaccinate people against smallpox. Using some pus from the hands of Sarah Nelmes, a milkmaid who was affected by the relatively mild disease of cowpox, Jenner inoculated James Phipps, the eight-year-old son of Jenner’s gardener. The inoculation led to a fever and some uneasiness but no full-blown infection. Later, Jenner injected the boy with smallpox material, the routine method of immunisation at that time, and again no disease followed. After a lengthy deliberation, the medical establishment accepted Jenner’s findings and in 1840, the British government banned the use of smallpox to induce immunity and provided vaccination using cowpox free of charge.
Edward Jenner and the Smallpox Vaccination
14th May 1796