Smallpox vaccine Smallpox vaccine Smallpox vaccine, the first successful vaccine to be developed, was introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796. He followed up his observation that milkmaids who had previously caught cowpox did not later catch smallpox by showing that inoculated cowpox protected against inoculated smallpox. Dryvax is a freeze-dried calf lymph smallpox vaccine. It is the world's oldest smallpox vaccine, created in the late 19th century by American Home Products, a predecessor of Wyeth. By the 1940s, Wyeth was the leading US manufacturer of the vaccine and the only manufacturer by the 1960s. After world health authorities declared smallpox had been
1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic vaccination attempts to stop the spread of smallpox at the onset of the epidemic. The first by the American Fur Company was largely unsuccessful. Many traders tried to obtain vaccines but the AFC was unwilling to heed their requests. The second was by the American government. Here efforts were made under the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832. Some areas did receive vaccines for smallpox, typically ones that were in contact with Americans, usually in the southern United States. Still the Office of Indian Affairs did not have the network or information needed to vaccinate the plains people quickly, nor did