Smallpox vaccination points

Production date
1873

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Details


Description
Held by the Science Museum
Copyright: The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
History
Smallpox vaccinations were administered using ivory points. The points were rubbed, scratched on, or inserted into a cut in the skin.

These smallpox vaccination points were supplied and used by the Government Lymph Establishment in 1873 to vaccinate the public free of charge. Vaccination stations were set up in Bristol, Liverpool and London.


Did the British Red Cross support smallpox vaccinations?
In 1919, the British Red Cross began its peacetime role and added the improvement of health and the prevention of disease to its objectives. The organisation has a long history of supporting the NHS with various health and social care services, including vaccination programmes. Following smallpox outbreaks in 1950 in Glasgow and Sussex, British Red Cross volunteers assisted in clinics and mass vaccination centres.
Catalogue Number
150.36

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