For most of history and the long origin story of vaccines, we have known very little about the mechanics of how bodies defend against disease. The practice of variolation—purposefully exposing individuals to dried infected material to stimulate immunity—was borne out of the simple observation that people who survive sickness don’t tend to get sick again. The science of immunity didn’t really fall under much scientific scrutiny until the 19th century after Edward Jenner made his pivotal cowpox/smallpox vaccine discovery. Cowpox and smallpox were clearly different diseases with differences in severity, animal host, and mode of transmission. But, despite these differences,…
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