History of smallpox In the late 1770s, during the American Revolutionary War, smallpox returned once more and killed thousands. Peter Kalm in his "Travels in North America", described how in that period, the dying Indian villages became overrun with wolves feasting on the corpses and weakened survivors. Smallpox was also used as a weapon by the British. In 1799, the physician Valentine Seaman administered the first smallpox vaccine in the United States. He gave his children a smallpox vaccination using a serum acquired from Edward Jenner, the British physician who invented the vaccine from fluid taken from cowpox lesions. Though vaccines were misunderstood
1947 New York City smallpox outbreak Red Cross, the City Health Department, off-duty police and firefighters, and the disbanded, but vast, World War II Air Raid Warden networks located in all of New York's coastal towns, went door-to-door to urge residents to get vaccinated. A radio and print ad campaign called, "Be sure, be safe, get vaccinated!" advertised the vaccination clinic locations and emphasized that vaccination was free. Within days, long lines formed outside the clinics. More than 600,000 New Yorkers were vaccinated in the first week. The vaccination clinics began closing April 26, with the last closing May 3, 1947. Twelve cases of smallpox were