Vaccination

Edward Jenner, an English physician, accidentally discovered the vaccine that saved many millions of people from death from smallpox. It happened one day when he recalled a milkmaid telling him that she could never have smallpox because she had had cowpox. The idea struck him that he could inoculate patients with cowpox to keep them from having the more deadly smallpox. This was true serendipity. The fact that cowpox gave immunity to smallpox came to him without effort on his part. He had the good judgment to recognize its value and make use of it.

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Last Updated: 02/16/03
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