SocraticGadfly: Edward Jenner: A historical anniversary for vaccine conspiracy theorists to remember

May 14, 2008

Edward Jenner: A historical anniversary for vaccine conspiracy theorists to remember

For all the nutbars who refuse to vaccinate their children and even hold “measles parties” (search the blog), and for all the mothers who let themselves be deluded about vaccines causing autism (search the labels), and, outside the U.S., African Muslims who believe vaccination is a U.S. conspiracy to sterilize them, May 14 should be a red-letter day. Two hundred years ago today, Edward Jenner first tried his cowpox virus vaccine against smallpox on a human subject.

Due to Jenner’s invention of vaccination, the World Health Organization declared smallpox eliminated in 1979.

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