Question 1

True or false: Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated by a vaccine.

Accepted Answer

True. The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980 after a global vaccination campaign. No other human disease has been fully wiped out.

Question 2

True or false: The smallpox vaccine was invented in China over a thousand years before Jenner.

Accepted Answer

False. Ancient Chinese practiced variolation (inhaling smallpox scabs), but that was not a vaccine. Jenner's cowpox-based vaccine was the first true vaccine in 1796.

Question 3

True or false: Edward Jenner created the first smallpox vaccine using cowpox, not smallpox itself.

Accepted Answer

True. Jenner noticed milkmaids who caught cowpox were immune to smallpox. He used cowpox material to create the vaccine, which is safer than using live smallpox.

Question 4

True or false: The word 'vaccine' comes from the Latin word for cow, 'vacca'.

Accepted Answer

True. Jenner coined 'vaccination' from 'vacca' (cow) because he used cowpox. The term later expanded to all immunizations.

Question 5

True or false: After smallpox was eradicated, the US government destroyed all remaining samples of the virus.

Accepted Answer

False. After eradication, official samples were retained in two labs: the CDC in the US and Vector in Russia. They were not all destroyed.

Question 6

True or false: The smallpox vaccine was originally delivered by scratching it into the skin with a fork.

Accepted Answer

False. Early vaccination used a lancet or needle to scratch the skin. The 'bifurcated needle' invented later had two prongs, but it wasn't a fork.

Question 7

True or false: Jenner's first smallpox vaccine was tested on his own son.

Accepted Answer

False. Jenner tested the vaccine on James Phipps, an 8-year-old boy, not his son. Phipps was the son of Jenner's gardener.

Question 8

True or false: The smallpox vaccine was so effective that it only needed one dose for lifelong immunity.

Accepted Answer

False. One dose provided strong protection for about 5–10 years. Booster doses were recommended for continued immunity, especially during outbreaks.

First Successful Vaccine (Smallpox) Trivia Questions