On this day, May 14, 1796, Edward Jenner inoculated James Phipps with cowpox.

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5. Washington and Jefferson were proponents.

In his early twenties, Jefferson had to travel to Philadelphia for small pox inoculation because of the hysteria in Virginia. He defended the science and the practitioners throughout his life.

https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/inoculation/

Washington, a small pox survivor, made it policy that the Continental Army be inoculated. All new recruits who hadn't been inoculated prior were compelled to undergo the procedure. Not only did it save lives, it was good strategy. European armies, due to the crowded conditions in Great Britain and the continent, tended to be more resistant to small pox than American colonists, giving the British and Hessians an advantage at times in available manpower.