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Event / publication / experimentBranches1798

Vaccination

Edward JennerLady Mary Wortley MontaguLouis Pasteur

This page delivers no verdict; it presents claims and evidence with their sources. No theory in science is absolute. Method

For everyone

In 1796 Jenner showed that a boy inoculated with cowpox was protected against smallpox, and published his results in 1798. The Ottoman practice of variolation had earlier been brought to England by Lady Montagu. In 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated.

For specialists

Variolation was a mild infection with actual smallpox material and carried a death risk of about 1–2%. Jenner's vaccination (vacca: cow) relies on cross-immunity. Pasteur (1880s) developed attenuated vaccines for rabies and anthrax. Vaccine safety and efficacy are monitored through randomised trials and surveillance. Wakefield's 1998 paper proposing a link between vaccines and autism was retracted; many large studies did not observe such a link.

Claims

Evidence

Supporting

Observation

With a global vaccination campaign, natural transmission of smallpox stopped entirely after 1977.[2]

Statistics / meta-analysis

A Danish cohort study of more than 650,000 children found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism.[3]

Challenging

Clinical study

A 1998 case series of 12 children proposed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism; the journal retracted the paper in 2010.[4]

Connections

Parent

Medicine

Built upon by

mRNA vaccines

Related

Germ theory of disease

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Sources

  1. BookJenner, E. (1798). An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae. Sampson Low, London
  2. ReportWorld Health Organization (1980). The Global Eradication of Smallpox. Final Report of the Global Commission for the Certification of Smallpox Eradication. WHO, Geneva
  3. ArticleHviid, A.; Hansen, J. V.; Frisch, M.; Melbye, M. (2019). Measles, mumps, rubella vaccination and autism: a nationwide cohort study. Annals of Internal Medicine 170(8), 513–520DOI 10.7326/M18-2101archive
  4. ArticleWakefield, A. J. et al. (1998). Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children (RETRACTED 2010). The Lancet 351, 637–641DOI 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0archive

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Cite this page

APA

Athena contributors. (2026). Vaccination. Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/asi/

BibTeX
@misc{athena_asi,
  title        = {Vaccination},
  author       = {{Athena contributors}},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://latifkedi.github.io/athena/en/d/asi/}},
  note         = {Athena: The tree of human knowledge. Accessed: 2026-11-01}
}

Added: September 27, 2026 · Last changed: September 27, 2026 · Page history

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