Edward Jenner discovered vaccination for smallpox in 1796. He observed that milkmaids who caught cowpox, a similar but milder disease, from cows were resistant to smallpox. Jenner conducted an experiment inoculating a boy with cowpox which protected him from smallpox. This led Jenner to conclude that cowpox inoculation, which he called vaccination, could prevent smallpox infections. While initially opposed by some in the medical community, vaccination was later adopted worldwide and led to the eradication of smallpox by the late 20th century.
2. LO:Howsignificant
wastheworkof
EdwardJenner.
All will be able to … Describe Jenner’s work on vaccination. (D)
Most will be able to …Explain the opposition to Jenner’s work. (C)
Some will be able to … Evaluate the contribution of Jenner’s work (A)
3. TASK
• Group One – Sophie, Lenny, Tom B, Dominique, Amarilda.
• Group Two – Chelsea, Ellie, Asiatu, Liam W, Branden.
• Group Three – Max, Tom H, Rebecca, Alice, Kira.
• Group Four – Connor, Liam, Shannon, Kira, Johnny.
• RED = Inoculation.
• ORANGE = Small Pox.
• GREEN = Jenner.
• BLUE = Opposition.
• BLACK = Factors.
We will be working together to answer the questions on the
next slide…
4. TASK
• You will have 6 minutes to read your assigned information.
• What was Small Pox…Why was it feared?
• Who was Jenner … What did he do?
• What is the difference between Vaccination and Inoculation.
• What factors are involved in Jenner's discovery
• What opposition did he face?
• Were there any limitations to his work.
You will be teaching the rest of your group about your
information. You need to be experts!
Complete your sheets.
5. TASK
• You now have THREE minutes each to tell the rest of your
group about your information.
• I SHOULD ONLY HEAR 4 PEOPLE SPEAKING AT ONCE…
• 5x3 = 15 Mins.
6. Questions.
You have a choice of questions. EXAM Conditions – 8 minutes.
• Q1 – Who was Jenner, how did he make his discovery? (C)
Who was he?
What did he do?
Mention factors.
• Q2 – How significant was work of Edward Jenner? (A)
What was his work?
What was the opposition?
What was the impact of his work?
7. Find–Someone–Who
• This will be your EXIT pass for today’s lesson. You will NEED
a completed sheet before you leave.
• You must have ALL of the answers to the questions
completed.
• You must NOT answer your own question.
• Answer ONE question from someone else sheet and write
your name.
• You have 6 MINUTES…
8. Inoculation…
• In parts of China, people had been using a basic form of inoculation for many years. They
scratched pus from a smallpox victim into their skin. They didn’t realise it but this gave
them a small dose of the disease and allowed their body to build up a resistance.
• Inoculation was being used in Turkey too. In 1717 Lady Mary Montague lived there. Mary
wrote an account of inoculation. In 1721 Mary had her children inoculated. News spread
fast. Even King George I had his grandchildren inoculated.
• Smallpox inoculation became big business. However only the rich could afford it.
• Sometimes it gave people a strong dose of smallpox
– which killed them. The inoculated person could
also spread the disease…
9. SmallPox…
• Epidemics of smallpox broke out in Britain every few years. Many died from it. The horror of
smallpox was not just the danger of death but the physical scars it caused.
• It is a highly infectious virus passed from one person to another by coughing and sneezing.
The first symptoms were a fever and a headache. A rash turned into a mass of huge pus
filled blisters. When they dropped off they left scars. It could kill too. In the 1700s it killed
more European children than any other disease.
• For many, especially the poor, were affected. If you had the disease your house would be
disinfected and the damage this caused would not be paid for.
• Smallpox claimed many royal victims. It was a disease that affected the rich as much as the
poor. Think what impact this might have…
DATE TOTAL DEATHS DEATHS FROM SMALLPOX
TOTAL As % of Deaths
1740 – 51 1594 260 16.3
1752 – 63 1616 202 12.5
1764 – 75 1798 76 4.2
1776 – 87 1992 122 6.1
1788 – 99 2308 31 1.3
Deaths from smallpox in Maidstone
10. Jenner…
• The theory of inoculation was well known when Jenner became a doctor in the 1770s.
• Jenner studied in London with John Hunter, the greatest surgeon of the time. Hunter
encouraged his students to use their powers of observation to carry out new
experiments.
• Jenner heard that milkmaids who caught cowpox (a similar, but milder version of
smallpox) from cows never seemed to catch the deadly smallpox.
• In 1796 Jenner decided to carry out an experiment. He used a poor local boy and gave
him a dose of cowpox. Six weeks later he gave the box smallpox germs ‘but no disease
followed’.
• Jenner carried out the experiment 23 times. Only then did he conclude that ‘cowpox
protects the human from the infection of the smallpox’.
• His findings were rejected by the Royal Society. He published his research himself, he
called his new technique vaccination (Latin means from a cow).
11. Opposition &Success
• The link only existed between smallpox and cowpox. It did not work for any other
diseases. Vaccination was not always successful, and some people did develop smallpox
because some doctors did not carry out vaccination carefully enough.
• When the Government provided a grant to pay for people to have free vaccinations,
doctors lost money because people no longer paid for inoculations. Therefore many
doctors opposed Jenner’s work. Royal Society was against the findings at first.
Vaccinations at the start were also expensive to start with.
• Jenner was not the first to use cowpox as a vaccine against smallpox. A Dorset farmer,
infected his family with cowpox. However these men did not publish their ideas.
• It was deemed Ungodly – using
animals to cure humans. An anti-
vaccine league was formed in 1866.
12. Factors
• Jenner’s findings were read by many important people. Parliament gave Jenner £30,000
to open a vaccination clinic. By 1803, doctors were using Jenner’s technique in America.
In France, Napoleon had all his soldiers vaccinated!
• Jenner had pamphlets printed for other scientists to read; the pamphlets described his
experiments very clearly so that the other scientists could check his work.
• Jenner worked in a scientific way and did a number of tests.
• Jenner did not mind other people using his ideas – he wanted lots of people to benefit
from his work.
• In 1802 the Jennerian Society was set up in London to promote vaccination and within
two years over 12,000 people had been vaccinated.
• In 1852 the Government made it compulsory to be vaccinated.
The development of a
vaccination for smallpox.
Communication
Changing attitudes
Government.
Scientific thinking
• When the Government enforced
compulsory vaccination in 1872, the
number of smallpox cases dropped
dramatically, and in 1979 the World
Health Organization announced
that smallpox had been wiped out
completely. Use the diagram above to highlight four factors that affected the
development of a vaccine for smallpox. What examples can you find.
Education? Technology?
