1796

Edward Jenner was one of many seeking to defeat the “speckled monster” of smallpox, and it was common lore that dairymaids seemed immune to smallpox after contracting cowpox. In May 1796, using matter from fresh cowpox lesions, Jenner inoculated an 8-year-old boy. In July, he demonstrated that the boy was protected from smallpox and called this new procedure vaccination, after vaccinia, the Latin name for cowpox.Jenner’s first paper on the subject, which described the first successful control of an infectious disease by the deliberate use of vaccination, was rejected.