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
History of smallpox in Mexico caused Viceroy Félix Calleja to take preventive measures like fumigations and vaccination, which were successful. There were sporadic outbreaks until 1826 when smallpox appeared in Yucatán, Tabasco and Veracruz brought by North American ships. In 1828, there were reported cases in Hidalgo, Oaxaca, State of Mexico, Guerrero, Chiapas, Chihuahua and Mexico City. Efforts to eradicate smallpox in Mexico started with Dr José Ignacio Bartolache who wrote a book in 1779 about smallpox called “Instrucción que puede servir para que se cure a los enfermos de las viruelas epidemicas que ahora se padecen en México”(Instructions that may help to cure smallpox