James Phipps facts for kids
James Phipps (born 1788 – died 1853) was a young boy who played a very important role in medical history. He was the first person to receive a special experimental vaccine for cowpox from Edward Jenner. Dr. Jenner had heard that dairy workers who caught a mild sickness called cowpox seemed to be safe from a much more serious disease called smallpox. He decided to test this idea. On May 17, 1796, he successfully gave the first vaccine to James Phipps, who was 8 years old. This was a huge step in fighting diseases.
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James's Early Life and the First Vaccine
James Phipps was born in a town called Berkeley in Gloucestershire, England. His father was a gardener for Dr. Edward Jenner and didn't own much land. James was baptized, which is a type of church ceremony, at St Mary's parish church in Berkeley when he was four years old.
On May 14, 1796, Dr. Jenner chose James for his important experiment. Jenner described James as "a healthy boy, about eight years old." He wanted to give James the "Cow Pox" to see if it would protect him from smallpox.
How the Vaccine Was Given
Dr. Jenner carefully took some fluid from small bumps, called vesicles, on the hand of a milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes. She had cowpox. Then, Jenner made two small cuts on James's arm and put the fluid into them. This was how the first vaccine was given.
Dr. Jenner wrote about what happened next: On the seventh day he complained of uneasiness in the axilla (armpit). On the ninth day he felt a little chilly, lost his appetite, and had a slight headache. He was not feeling well for that whole day and had a restless night. But the very next day, he was perfectly well again.
About six weeks later, Dr. Jenner tried to give James smallpox. But James did not get sick! This showed that the cowpox vaccine had given him full protection against smallpox. James was later given smallpox more than twenty times, and he never caught the disease. This proved the vaccine worked.
Were There Others Before James?
It's often said that James Phipps was the very first person to get a vaccine for smallpox using cowpox. However, some other people had actually done similar things before him.
- In 1791, a man named Peter Plett from Kiel, which is now in Germany, gave a similar treatment to three children.
- Also, in 1774, Benjamin Jesty from Yetminster in Dorset, England, did this for three people in his own family.
But Dr. Jenner's work was special. He wrote down everything he did with James Phipps. He also included a drawing of Sarah Nelmes's hand in his book called Inquiry, which came out in 1798. This book was the first time the idea of vaccination was officially published. It also showed how the vaccine could be passed from person to person and how to choose the right material for it.
James's Later Life
Later in James Phipps's life, Dr. Jenner helped him. He gave James, his wife, and their two children a free place to live in a cottage in Berkeley. This cottage later became the Edward Jenner Museum for a while, from 1968 to 1982. James Phipps also attended Dr. Jenner's funeral on February 3, 1823, showing how much he respected him.
In 1853, James Phipps was buried in St Mary's church in Berkeley. This was the same church where he had been baptized as a child. Dr. Jenner was also buried in this church.
