Jun 20, 2021
8 min read
American Presidents and Vaccines: Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Inoculation Riots
Before Edward Jenner widely publicized his observations on vaccination, the only protection against smallpox was the practice of variolation (also known as inoculation). Variolation consisted of artificially exposing a person to smallpox (usually Variola minor since it caused less death than Variola major) under the care of a physician…
