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“Temple of Vaccinia” is a one-room hut in the garden built as a part of a summerhouse for Dr. Edward Jenner by a friend. But Jenner named it the “Temple of Vaccinia,” and started using it for vaccinating the poor for free. Thus, it can be considered as the world’s first free vaccination clinic.

225 years ago, this gentleman changed medical history by inventing a technique that saved the lives of billions. Smallpox is a virus borne disease that spreads through person-to-person contact and saliva droplets in an infected person's breath (like sneezing and coughing). In the last hundred years of its existence, smallpox killed five hundred million people ( 5 million annual deaths on average). It is estimated that 80% of children and up to 60% of adults that were infected with smallpox died.

Edward Jenner was a physician from Gloucestershire in England who had observed that milkmaids who had suffered cowpox (known as Vaccinia) never subsequently developed smallpox. In May 1796, Edward Jenner came across a young milkmaid, Sarah Nelms, who had cowpox lesions on her hands and arms. He collected the pus from blisters of Sarah Nelms and inoculated his gardener’s 8-year-old boy, James Phipps, on May 14, 1796. The boy developed mild fever and discomfort but recovered quickly. After two months, Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with pus matter from a fresh smallpox lesion. No disease developed in Phipps. As a tribute to the milkmaids and cows, Jenner named this technique as ‘vaccination’ (the Latin word for cow is 'Vacca').

Initially, Jenner was ridiculed for his discovery. The fear for the vaccine was widespread and many people were under the impression that cows' heads might erupt from the bodies of people being inoculated against smallpox. The religious leaders said that it was immoral to stop a disease that God has created. Jenner's first attempt to publish his observation in Royal Society journal was rejected in 1797. He was told that his ideas were too radical and that he needed more proof. After multiple delays, the contemporary scientific world finally accepted and published his results in 1798. Edward Jenner received worldwide recognition and many honors. John Snow termed this milestone as ‘?????? ???????????????? ?????????????????? ???????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ???????? ???? ?????? ???????????????? ???? ????????????????’

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