Health And The People: Edward Jenner and the smallpox vaccine Flashcards
Where did small pox come from?
Medieval china and other parts of china
What did people used to prevent small pox?
Inoculations
What was the problems with inoculations?
- Strong religious objections - some people still believed that God sent illness to punish their sins
- Poor people could not afford inoculations
- Germs and infections were not understood
When and where did Jenner carry out his experiment?
In Gloucestershire in 1796
What was Jenner’s experiment?
He inserted cow pox into an 8 year old boy
What should happen if Jenners experiment worked?
The child should not react to the follow up smallpox inoculation
What should happened if Jenner’s experiment failed?
The boy would develop smallpox scabs in the normal way
What did Jenner do to prove his vaccination worked?
Tested 16 other people over several weeks
What did Jenner conclude?
Cowpox protected humans from small pox
Why was Jenner’s findings opposed?
He could not explain his findings and how it worked - people found it hard to explain
Jenner was not a fashionable city doctor so was snobbery towards him
