The smallpox vaccine was introduced in 1796 by English physician Edward Jenner. Observing that milkmaids who had contracted the mild disease cowpox rarely developed smallpox, Jenner tested the idea by inoculating an eight-year-old boy with material from a cowpox sore. The boy later proved immune to smallpox, demonstrating that exposure to cowpox could protect against the far more deadly disease. Jenner’s work laid the foundation for the science of vaccination.
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