The Perception of Medical Ethics Within the Case Study and Campaign of Jennerian Vaccination

Abstract

Smallpox is credited as the deadliest infectious disease in history. From then beginning of the eighteenth century smallpox was treated by inserting smallpox matter into the arm of an individual. It was not the ideal method of treatment. Physician Edward Jenner from a young age as an apprentice, was interested in the folklore of cowpox. Cowpox when contracted by a human was rumored to make the individual unsusceptible to smallpox. Jenner sought to bring this folklore to the masses if in fact cowpox did protect against smallpox. He determined through experimentation, that cowpox protected against smallpox. As a result he entered a decades-long campaign in order to see this method save lives from the hell that was smallpox. The ethics of Jenner were questioned throughout his work. This research finds that Jenner conducted his experiments ethically. To understand the ethics of Jenner it is necessary to place him within the medical ethics established prior and during his era.