Image:The cow pock.jpg

English: The Cow-Pock—or—the Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation!—vide. the Publications of y^e Anti-Vaccine Society

Print (color engraving) published June 12, 1802 by H. Humphrey, St. James's Street.

In this cartoon, the British satirist James Gillray caricatured a vaccination scene at the Smallpox and Inoculation Hospital at St. Pancras, showing Edward Jenner vaccinating frightened young women, and cows emerging from different parts of people's bodies. The cartoon was inspired by the controversy over inoculating against the dread disease, smallpox. The inoculation agent, cowpox vaccine, was rumored to have the ability to sprout cow-like appendages. A serene Edward Jenner stands amid the crowd. A boy next to Jenner holds a container labeled "VACCINE POCK hot from y^e COW"; papers in the boy's pocket are labeled "Benefits of the Vaccine". The tub on the desk next to Jenner is labeled "OPENING MIXTURE". A bottle next to the tub is labeled "VOMIT". The painting on the wall depicts worshippers of the Golden Calf.

Edward Jenner, an English physician, used folk knowledge to find an alternative to variolation. Recognizing that dairymaids infected with cowpox were immune to small-pox, Jenner deliberately infected James Phipps, an eight year old boy, with cowpox in 1796. He then exposed Phipps to smallpox–which Phipps failed to contract. After repeating the experiment on other children, including his own son, Jenner concluded that vaccination provided immunity to smallpox without the risks of variolation. Jenner’s findings were published in 1798.