Small pox Flashcards
Innoculation
Mary Montague introduced inoculation (also called variolation) to Britain in 1721 after learning about it in Turkey
After 1750, inoculation was made popular in Britain by Thomas Dimsdale.
People would be given puss from a smallpox scab. This was a live form of the disease.
Your chances on average of getting a big case of smallpox went down from 30% to about 1-2%.
However, it was very expensive and risky - lots of people died from inoculation
Edward Jenners Vaccination
In 1796 Jenner created vaccination for smallpox. He observed the effects of inoculation and tested his idea.
Before germ theory there was no knowledge on how to weaken specific germs that could be turned into vaccines.
A mild dose of the weakened cowpox (from the same family of diseases as SP) would make people immune to smallpox.
Vaccination was a lot safer than inoculation. By 1800, 100,000 people had been vaccinated.
The goverment
Parliament promoted the vaccination and urged people to ignore opponents who suggested the vaccine was unnatural or would turn people into cows.
The vaccine saved thousands of lives, which lowered the amount of opposition. By 1800, 100,000 people around the world had been vaccinated and in 1802, Napoleon vaccinated the whole French army.
In 1840 the government made inoculation a crime.
In 1853, Parliament made the vaccinations compulsory for people in Britain.
In 1871 the government appointed public vaccinators to carry out the smallpox vaccinations across the country
Peoples attitude
Uneducated people at first thought the smallpox vaccination would turn them into cows.
Wealthy inoculators didn’t want to lose their jobs, so tried to convince people vaccination was bad.
In the 1840s there was a massive outbreak of smallpox killing 35,000 people. This was blamed on inoculation.
The government supporting Edward Jenner was a big reason for people’s attitudes changing in the 1800s.
