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
1775–82 North American smallpox epidemic to say that policies and programs sprung up around epidemics and quarantines, wherever they were needed in the moment. However, the scourge of smallpox prompted changes to be made that would impact the public health of America for years to come. Even today, there is much debate surrounding the use of vaccines. Many parents and caregivers worry about potentially negative side effects associated with the vaccination of infants and children; this is merely and echo of the reaction to the smallpox inoculation and eventual vaccine. At the time of its introduction, almost all were extremely wary of this new medical