Read the following passage and answer the question below. Vaccination is widely regarded as one of the most successful public health interventions in human history, credited with preventing millions of deaths from infectious diseases each year. The concept dates back to the late eighteenth century, when English physician Edward Jenner discovered that exposure to cowpox, a relatively mild disease, could provide immunity against the far deadlier smallpox virus. This discovery laid the foundation for modern immunology and the eventual global eradication of smallpox in 1980, following a coordinated international vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization. Modern vaccines work by introducing a harmless component of a pathogen, or instructions to produce one, into the body, training the immune system to recognize and respond quickly if it later encounters the actual disease-causing organism. Despite their proven effectiveness and safety, vaccines have occasionally faced public skepticism and misinformation, which health officials say can undermine herd immunity and allow preventable diseases to resurface in under-vaccinated communities. Question: According to the passage, who discovered that cowpox exposure could provide immunity against smallpox?
- A. Robert Koch
- B. Louis Pasteur
- C. Edward Jenner ✓
- D. Alexander Fleming
Correct answer
C. Edward Jenner
Explanation
The passage credits English physician Edward Jenner with this discovery.