Daily Survival Guide

Today in Survival History
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The world's first vaccination for the treatment of smallpox was administered on this day in 1796. An English doctor, Edward Jenner, tested the vaccine on an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. In previous research he had noted that humans who had contracted cowpox, which led to few symptoms in humans, did not catch the deadly smallpox virus. Jenner scratched fluid from a cowpox blister into the boy's skin; he contracted a blister but quickly recovered. On July 1, 1796, Jenner deliberately infected Phipps with smallpox, but the boy remained healthy. Jenner then devoted his life to disseminating this new knowledge and encouraging the use of the procedure, which contributed to the reduction of the spread of smallpox worldwide.