Variolation shortly after variolation began to outweigh the benefits of the procedure. From the 1760s, a number of individuals, including John Fewster, Peter Plett, Benjamin Jesty, and particularly Edward Jenner, were interested in the use of material from cowpox, an animal infection, to protect against smallpox. In 1796, Jenner vaccinated James Phipps, did more vaccinations in 1798, and was the first to publish evidence that cowpox protected against smallpox, was safer than variolation, and that his vaccine could be maintained by arm-to-arm transfer. The use of variolation soon began to decline as the smallpox vaccine became widely used and its benefits
1978 smallpox outbreak in the United Kingdom as few laboratories as possible handling the virus. An official government inquiry into Parker's death was conducted by a panel led by microbiologist R.A. Shooter, and comprising Dr Christopher Booth, Prof. Sir David Evans, J.R. McDonald, Dr David Tyrrell and Prof. Sir Robert Williams, with observers from the World Health Organization (WHO), The Health and Safety Executive and the Trades Union Congress. Shooter's report was debated by Parliament. Since Shooter's "Report of the investigation into the cause of the 1978 Birmingham smallpox occurrence" also played an important role in the court case against the university for breach of safety legislation,