The Localist in England - S1E4: Pioneer of vaccination

More than 250 years before the Coronavirus pandemic, a local hero finds a way of tackling a different deadly virus.

The Gloucestershire physician Edward Jenner is credited with the development of the first vaccine against smallpox. But the technique he used in 1796 – a technique that made him rich and famous - had been pioneered over twenty years earlier by a Dorset farmer in a cowshed.

In 1774 Benjamin Jesty of Yetminster deliberately infected his family with cowpox to protect them from the deadly smallpox virus sweeping Europe. He had seen how milkmaids seemed to be immune from the more virulent human disease.

Jesty was vilified by local people, whose superstitions or beliefs made it difficult for them to accept the experiment. Jesty's social status also meant that the farmer’s role in the history of vaccination was largely overlooked.

Patrick Pead, a microbiologist, says that vaccination wasn't plucked out of the air by Benjamin Jesty or by Edward Jenner, it was built on what went before - that's why Jesty deserves our recognition.

Hosted and produced by Ollie Peart and Ian Ramsdale.

Executive Producer Kathryn Morrison.

Thanks to the Wellcome Collection and Patrick Pead.

Published on Tuesday, 13th July 2021.

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