First Smallpox Vaccination
- When
- 1796–1800
- Where
- Jenner's home town where he practiced as a doctor; Site of the variolous challenge not specified in the sources; Publication of Jenner's Inquiry; Coining of the term vaccination
- Episodes
- 4
In May 1796 Edward Jenner, a physician in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, tested the theory that cowpox confers immunity to smallpox by inoculating eight-year-old James Phipps, then challenging him with variolous material in July. The smallpox vaccine was invented in 1796 by Jenner, though at least six people had used the same principles years earlier; the term vaccination was coined by Richard Dunning in 1800.
Episodes
- Jenner Inoculates James Phipps with Cowpox
On 14 May 1796 Jenner tested his cowpox-immunity hypothesis by inoculating James Phipps, his gardener's eight-year-old son, in Berkeley.
- Challenge with Variolous Material
On 1 July 1796 Jenner injected Phipps with variolous material, the routine immunisation method of the time, and no disease followed.
- Publication of the Inquiry
In 1798 Jenner published An Inquiry Into the Causes and Effects of the Variolæ Vaccinæ, describing cowpox's protective effect and creating widespread interest.
- The Term Vaccination Is Coined
In 1800 the surgeon Richard Dunning coined the term vaccination in his text Some observations on vaccination.
Background and detail
Background. Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. In 1796 Edward Jenner, a doctor in Berkeley in Gloucestershire, England, tested a common theory that a person who had contracted cowpox would be immune from smallpox. His biographer John Baron later speculated that Jenner's observation of milkmaids' unblemished complexion led to this understanding.
Earlier Cowpox Experiments. Although the smallpox vaccine is credited to Jenner in 1796, at least six people had used the same principles years earlier. In the years following 1770, at least five investigators in England and Germany—Sevel, Jensen, Jesty in 1774, Rendell, and Plett in 1791—successfully tested a cowpox vaccine against smallpox in humans.
Significance and Reception. Donald Hopkins wrote that Jenner's unique contribution was not inoculating a few persons with cowpox, but proving by subsequent challenges that they were immune to smallpox. Despite contamination-confounded confirmation, medical controversy, and religious opposition, by 1801 his report was translated into six languages and over 100,000 people were vaccinated.
People involved
- Edward Jenner · English physician who devised and administered the smallpox vaccine
- James Phipps · Eight-year-old son of Jenner's gardener, first recipient of the vaccination
Sources
- Vaccination Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-31
- Edward Jenner Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.