Video: What we can learn from a book documenting the first vaccine, for smallpox

Caricature of vaccination scene at the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital at St. Pancras Hospital in London, by James Giray, 1802. Library of Congress

As the world waits anxiously for a COVID-19 vaccine, Sam Lemley, curator of special collections at Carnegie Mellon University, says that the story of the first vaccine is worth revisiting today. As curator of special collections, Lemley cares for a copy of the first edition of Jenner’s self-published book, titled “An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae.” This video provides a glimpse into the history of vaccines and how the smallpox vaccine’s unlikely beginning can provide some hope for people today.

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