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VVaccine history in brief

Vaccines and immunity — Antibodies, memory cells and community arithmetic — conceptual, not a prescription and not an anti-vaccine tract.

At a glance
Timeline

Milestones in order. This is history, not a weekly activity grid.

1796 Jenner cowpox17961885 Pasteur rabies18851921 BCG first use19211955 Salk polio19551963 Measles vaccine19631980 Smallpox eradicated19801988 Polio eradication start19882020 mRNA COVID shots2020
  1. Jenner cowpox
  2. Pasteur rabies
  3. BCG first use
  4. Salk polio
  5. Measles vaccine
  6. Smallpox eradicated
  7. Polio eradication start
  8. mRNA COVID shots
Score intensity

Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.

Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology

Quick answers

Where should I start with Vaccines and immunity?

Read Identity → How they live → Body & health, then use compare rails.

Is this page advice for Vaccines and immunity?

Public-health education — not a care plan, prescription, or outbreak briefing.

What does the local lens add?

It names everyday desks for Change & defence before English norms look universal.

Are the scores a ranking of Vaccines and immunity?

No — editorial 0–100 browsing aids inside this atlas only.

How do I compare Vaccines and immunity to neighbours?

Use related cards and best-of / quiz rails after the first three chapters.

Which chapter is densest?

How they live and Body & health carry mechanisms; skim Identity first.

Start with this section - History

Inoculation predates Jenner. The modern story is standardization, attenuation, and later molecular display of antigen.

Success against smallpox and near-success against polio sit beside harder targets such as HIV and a universal flu shot.

Timeline

1796Jenner cowpox

Cowpox material is used to protect against smallpox; publication follows in 1798.

1885Pasteur rabies

A public rabies vaccination of Joseph Meister becomes a founding legend of the lab-vaccine era.

1921BCG first use

Calmette and Guerin give an attenuated bovine tuberculosis vaccine to an infant in Paris.

1955Salk polio

Inactivated polio vaccine enters wide use in the United States after field trials.

1963Measles vaccine

Licensed measles vaccines begin a long decline of a highly contagious childhood killer.

1980Smallpox eradicated

WHO certifies the end of a human disease after ring vaccination and surveillance.

1988Polio eradication start

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative begins; wild types later shrink to a few countries.

2020mRNA COVID shots

Decades of lipid-nanoparticle and mRNA work meet a pandemic; emergency authorizations arrive in December.

History here is civic technology, not an argument that every product is identical.

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