In the eighteenth century smallpox was a big hazard. It was the cause of death for 40 million people at the time. Half the victims of smallpox died. There was no dependable way to circumvent smallpox. A lot of doctors gave small cases of smallpox to their patents to try to help them, but sadly the mild cases of smallpox part of the time killed them.
Edward Jenner was born in 1749. He was immunized from smallpox as a child. Jenner began his job as a doctor in the town he was born in in 1773.
Jenner saw that the milkmaids weren’t having smallpox. He knew milkmaids usually had cowpox. Cowpox gave cows blisters and milkmaids generally got blisters on their arms and hands. A lot of people thought cowpox gave them resistance to smallpox.
Jenner tested the vaccine on 23 different people. He didn’t know why the medicine worked. He showed his results to other doctors. They were wary at the time. The Royal Society of Medicine declined his findings. A few people were scared cowpox would make them act like cows.
The vaccine was slowly welcomed. Parliament gave Jenner the tools to continue his study of the vaccine. 12,000 people had taken the vaccine in 1804 and deaths were lowered to 600 yearly.
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