According to "The History of Medical Science"
Edward Jenner performed the first vaccination. In the eighteenth century an English country doctor named Edward Jenner began to study the link between smallpox and the milder disease, cowpox. By injecting one boy with the cowpox he found that the boy became immune to smallpox. Edward Jenner published his findings in 1798 and within three years 100,000 people in Britain had been vaccinated.

In 1954,  Becton, Dickinson and Company created the first mass-produced disposable syringe and needle, produced in glass. It was developed for Dr. Jonas Salk's mass administration of one million American children with the new Salk polio vaccine.

Benjamin A. Rubin
Benjamin A. Rubin invented a pronged vaccination needle used for smallpox vaccinations.

History of the Hypodermic Needle or Syringe
What's the history behind this medical device, including needles and syringes used before vaccinations were developed.

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