Smallpox vaccine

A vaccine that protects against smallpox, traditionally made from vaccinia virus, a poxvirus related to variola, the virus that causes the disease.

Vaccinia virus: A poxvirus used in smallpox vaccines that induces immunity to variola virus. The vaccine’s traditional active agent is vaccinia, not the smallpox virus itself.
Edward Jenner: An English physician who tested and popularized vaccination against smallpox in 1796. Jenner’s experiments helped establish the method that became smallpox vaccination.
Smallpox: A severe infectious disease caused by variola virus, eradicated worldwide in 1980. Preventing this disease was the vaccine’s defining purpose.
Variolation: An old smallpox-prevention practice that deliberately exposed people to material from smallpox lesions. It used variola itself and carried greater risk than vaccination with a related virus.
Variola virus: The virus that causes smallpox in humans. The vaccine protects against this distinct but related poxvirus.
Cowpox: A zoonotic poxvirus infection that can cause localized lesions in humans and cattle. Exposure to cowpox was associated with protection from smallpox and informed Jenner’s work.
Smallpox eradication: The worldwide elimination of naturally occurring smallpox through coordinated vaccination and surveillance. Vaccination was central to the campaign that ended natural transmission.
MVA-BN: A non-replicating vaccinia-based vaccine used to prevent smallpox and mpox. Unlike traditional replicating vaccines, it uses modified vaccinia Ankara that does not replicate in human cells.
Cross-reactivity: Recognition of similar molecular features by the same immune response. Immune recognition shared across poxviruses helps explain protection against variola.
Inoculation: The historical practice of deliberately introducing infectious material to induce protection against disease. Smallpox vaccination grew out of earlier attempts to prevent disease by controlled exposure.

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