Vaccination: Timeline

1796   Edward Jenner Edward Jenner

Edward Jenner, FRS [i], was an English country doctor who studied nature an ... 

 administers the first smallpox Smallpox

Smallpox was a highly contagious viral disease [i] unique to humans. ... 

 vaccination.

1800   First smallpox Smallpox

Smallpox was a highly contagious viral disease [i] unique to humans. ... 

 vaccination in North America North America

North America is a continent [i] in the Earth [i]'s northern hemisphere [i] and almost fully in the western hemisphere [i] ... 

, at Trinity, Newfoundland.

1805   Napoleon annuls the ten-day week of the French Revolutionary Calendar. He also orders his soldiers to be vaccinated Vaccination

Vaccination is the process of administering weakened or dead pathogens to a healthy person, with the int... 

1954   The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania [i] in the United States [i] ... 

1977   The last natural case of smallpox Smallpox

Smallpox was a highly contagious viral disease [i] unique to humans. ... 

 is discovered in Merca district, Somalia Somalia

Somalia , formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a coastal nation at the Horn of Africa [i] ... 

. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination and, by extension, of modern scien