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The golden age of vaccine development - Works in Progress Magazine

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The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.

In 1796, when Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine, against the smallpox virus, no one knew what viruses were, let alone connected them to diseases. Many believed Jenner’s vaccine worked because it depleted the body of the specific nutrients the disease needed to thrive. In reality, his concept worked because of the good fortune that cowpox infections provided cross protection against smallpox. It would take almost a century to work out how to develop vaccines against other diseases. The Works in Progress Newsletter Get new articles from Works in Progress delivered to your inbox.…

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