The evolution of the vaccine is a long and convoluted story of infectious diseases that have afflicted the human race since the beginning of time and will continue to do so for a very long time to come.
Its origin comes from the Latin word for cow: vacca. Credit for the use of the term vaccine was given to a British physician in 1799, Dr. Edward Jenner. He made a fascinating observation that milkmaids who were infected with cowpox were immune to smallpox epidemics that regularly afflicted residents of his parish. The pox virus can affect many different species. Cowpox for cows, smallpox for humans.
