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Smallpox

Smallpox was a disease that caused severe rashes all over the body. It had a mortality rate of around 30 per cent. Even if people survived, they were often left with long-term effects, such as scarring, joint pain and even blindness.

Inoculation

In 1718, Lady Mary Montagu, who was married to the British ambassador in Turkey, had her son inoculated against smallpox. This involved giving someone a small amount of pus from a smallpox victim, which protected them against the disease. On her return to England, she promoted inoculation and the procedure became widely used.

There were risks with inoculation. Someone might contract the full-blown disease when they were being inoculated, or they might not be given enough so they would not develop immunity.

Edward Jenner’s discovery

Edward Jenner was an English doctor who was born in 1749. He heard milkmaids claim that they would not catch smallpox as they had already been infected with a far less serious disease, cowpox. Jenner decided to test this theory.

In 1796, Jenner took cowpox pus from a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes, and smeared it into a small cut in the arm of eight-year-old James Phipps. Phipps became mildly ill with cowpox. Next, Jenner gave Phipps pus from a smallpox victim and James did not become ill.

Jenner had proved that cowpox gave people protection against smallpox. He called this procedure ‘vaccination’ after the Latin word for ‘cow’, vacca.

Opposition to Jenner’s vaccine

Despite its effectiveness in protecting people against smallpox, there was significant opposition to Jenner’s vaccine:

• Some members of the Church believed that disease was sent by God, so the vaccine interfered with God’s will.
• The vaccine worked by giving people an animal disease. Some people felt that this was not safe and that vaccinated people would grow horns.
• Jenner did not know about germs. Because of this, he could not fully explain how his vaccine worked.

Why was Jenner significant?

Jenner’s vaccine meant people could be protected against a deadly disease. In 1853, a law was introduced making it compulsory for all newborn babies to be vaccinated against smallpox. In 1967, the World Health Organisation launched a plan to try to eradicate smallpox. In 1980, they announced that their goal had been achieved.

Jenner’s work also encouraged research to find other vaccines. This became possible after Louis Pasteur discovered germ theory in 1853.