Saving Millions Worldwide

Edward Jenner

...the father of immunology!

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In 1796, testing his theory, drawn from the folklore of the countryside, he scraped pus from cowpox blisters on the hands of a milkmaid who was immune to smallpox. He inoculated James Phipps, the 8 year old son of his gardener, in both arms and no disease followed. He published his paper and was widely ridiculed.  Critics, especially the clergy, claimed it was repulsive and ungodly to inoculate someone with material from a diseased animal.

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Smallpox was the most feared and greatest killer of Jenner's time, touching every section of society. It killed Kings, Queens and Emperors as well as the common man. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox in the world was in Somalia in 1977.

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"...the practice of producing cowpox in human beings will spread over the world - when that day comes, there will be no more smallpox."  Edward Jenner