First Successful Vaccination (1796)

Hello there. My name is Dr. Edward Jenner, and I was a doctor in the countryside a long, long time ago. I loved helping people feel better, especially children. But there was a very sad problem. A sickness called smallpox was making people sick. It gave them bumpy spots and a high fever, and it made me very sad to see children who couldn't run and play. I wanted to find a way to stop it. One day, I noticed something very curious. The friendly milkmaids who milked the cows sometimes got a little sickness from the cows called cowpox. It just gave them a few spots on their hands. But those milkmaids never, ever got the big, scary smallpox. This made me think and wonder. It gave me a wonderful idea.

My idea was a little bit like a puzzle. What if the gentle cowpox could teach our bodies how to fight off the big smallpox? It was a brand new thought, and I felt a little nervous but also very excited. I needed a very brave helper. I knew just the person, a kind and courageous eight-year-old boy named James Phipps. His father worked in my garden. On a sunny day, May 14th, 1796, I asked James if he would help me. He bravely said yes. I took a little bit of the cowpox sickness from a milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes and used a feather to give James a tiny, gentle scratch on his arm. James felt a little sleepy for a day, but soon he was back to playing outside, happy and healthy as could be.

Now came the most exciting part. A little while later, I had to see if my idea had worked. I checked to see if James could get the big, scary smallpox. And guess what? He couldn't. He was completely safe. He was protected. Hooray. My idea had worked. I was so happy I think I jumped for joy. I decided to call this special protection a 'vaccination,' which comes from the word 'vacca,' the word for cow in a language called Latin. My discovery meant that we could help keep children everywhere healthy and strong. Because of this idea, children could be safe from the bumpy sickness and spend their days running, laughing, and playing with their friends.