Online exhibition: a history of vaccination

Explore the history of vaccination through our fascinating online exhibition highlighting key moments in its history.

Vaccination: a history of saving lives

 

Our online exhibition shows objects from key moments in the history of vaccination.

 

Ranging from the initial vaccine discovery to the impact on public health and disease prevention, it also charts the history of misinformation around vaccines.

 

You'll also see the Red Cross's life-saving work in supporting mass vaccination campaigns during outbreaks, from smallpox to COVID-19, in the UK and around the world.

 

View our online exhibition

Success over the years

Since the 18th-century, vaccination has been a vital tool in the fight against infectious diseases.

Despite a long history of opposition, mass immunisation programmes have helped eradicate diseases such as smallpox.

They have also reduced transmission of many more including polio, measles and tetanus. 

This video shows a mass vaccination programme in Glasgow during a smallpox outbreak in 1950, when British Red Cross volunteers supported NHS staff.

The discovery of the smallpox vaccine

The discovery of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 by Edward Jenner is the greatest triumph in public health. It led to the global eradication of smallpox by 1980.

An oil painting showing Dr Edward Jenner carrying out his first smallpox vaccination on James Phipps in 14 May 1796.

Dr Edward Jenner giving out his first smallpox vaccine to James Phipps, 14 May 1796

A country doctor from Gloucestershire, Edward Jenner pioneered the concept of vaccines, which have since saved millions of lives around the world.

More on Dr Edward Jenner
Tube containing a single vaccine for smallpox, 1888.

Tube containing a single vaccine for smallpox, 1888

The British Red Cross supported the NHS with mass smallpox vaccinations during the 1950s in Glasgow and Sussex.

Helping with the smallpox vaccine

Preventing disease in the UK and around the world 

The British Red Cross has been supporting vaccine programmes for generations. Thanks to immunisation campaigns in the past, diseases like smallpox, polio and measles no longer exist or are rare.

Bottle for the dyptheria vaccine with a hypodermic needle, 1946

Bottle for the diphtheria vaccine with a hypodermic needle, 1946

During the Second World War, British Red Cross volunteers helped give inoculations for diphtheria to families evacuated from their homes.

Protecting families from diphtheria
A black and white photograph showing a fundraising campaign for measles vaccinations by the British Red Cross in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) 1968.

Measles immunisation programme, Rhodesia, 1968

Our overseas branch in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) launched a fundraising campaign for measles vaccinations. About 55,000 children were immunised.

More on our work in Rhodesia

Stopping the spread of coronavirus

As the NHS works to vaccinate millions of people to stop the spread of Covid-19, British Red Cross volunteers are providing vital support at vaccination centres.

Pfizer vaccine vial, as shown at the museum of kindness

Vial of the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, 2020

During the coronavirus pandemic, we helped some of the most vulnerable people at home and overseas. This is from one of our vaccination centres where volunteers supported the NHS.

A British Red Cross volunteer with a clipboard speaks to two people waiting to have their vaccine at a UK vaccination centre.

Red Cross volunteer talking to a couple who have received the Covid-19 vaccine, 2020

As with vaccination programmes throughout history, our volunteers are guiding people through the vaccination process up and down the country.

Supporting the NHS with the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out

Thank you and credits 

Exhibition curator - Mehzebin Adam.

Thanks to Stephen Noble for film and photo research.

Images of objects on this page © Wellcome Collection/ Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.