‘The Cow Pox Tragedy – Scene the last.’ by George Cruikshank, 1812

Handcoloured etching entitled ‘The Cow Pox Tragedy – Scene the last.’ By George Cruikshank. Published by M. Jones in 1812.

This satirical print shows the initial opposition to, and fears about, vaccination.
‘The Cow Pox Tragedy’ is an attack on both vaccination and The Royal College of Physicians, who in 1806 had produced a report arguing the benefits of vaccination and the skills of Edward Jenner (1749–1823), the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world’s first vaccine.
The central design shows a funeral procession, beneath rays labelled ‘Common Sense’, ‘Candid Investigation’, ‘Reason’, ‘Religion’, and ‘Truth’, leading a coffin inscribed ‘Vaccina aged 12 Years’.
To the right the headquarters of the Royal College of Physicians is shown collapsing.
The upper part has a stage curtain inscribed ‘His Conscience that makes Cow-herds of us all’, from which falls a small horned cow with the head of Jenner.