1854: Kamehameha IV turns to Western medicine to fight smallpox
King Kamehameha IV orders smallpox vaccinations for all in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.
- Theme
- Epidemics
- Region
- Hawai‘i
Watercolor drawings showing smallpox (left) and cowpox (right) inoculations after 8 days. Drawing by G. Kirtland, 1802. Cowpox is similar to but much milder than the highly contagious and sometimes deadly smallpox disease. It resembles mild smallpox, and was the basis of the first smallpox vaccines.
Courtesy Wellcome Library, London
Watercolour drawings showing smallpox (left) and cowpox (right) inoculations after 14 days. Drawing by G. Kirtland, 1802. Cowpox is similar to but much milder than the highly contagious and sometimes deadly smallpox disease. It resembles mild smallpox, and was the basis of the first smallpox vaccines.
Courtesy Wellcome Library, London