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I think it is somewhat incorrect to call this vaccination, because the proper term for what was available in Benjamin Franklin's time was variolation, or inocul

• elliekelly 6y ago
  An interesting tidbit about the origin of two terms from Wikipedia: > Until the very early 1800s, inoculation referred only to the practice of variolation, the predecessor to the smallpox vaccine. Edward Jenner introduced the latter in 1798, when it was called cowpox inoculation, or vaccine inoculation (from Latin vacca = cow). Smallpox inoculation continued to be referred to as variolation (from variola = smallpox), whereas cowpox inoculation was referred to as vaccination (from Jenner's use of variolae vaccinae = smallpox of the cow). The article goes on to explain how the meanings of the terms have since expanded: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inoculation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inoculation
  • twic 6y ago
    I suppose the analogue of Jenner's cowpox innoculations would be infecting people with coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2 and hoping that the cross-immunity is helpful. There is evidence for such cross-immunity, but not strong enough for this to be a strategy you'd bet on.