The history of vaccines and how they work : Planet Money

A vaccine is just exposing yourself to a little bit of the bad thing that can kill you.

But when did we first get the idea to inject ourselves with something that can kill us, in order to save us?

On today’s show we trace the 2000-year history of the very first vaccine. We go from Ancient Greece to Imperial China to Britain. And we learn how this led to an achievement we’d love to repeat again now with the coronavirus — completely eradicating a deadly disease.

Music: “Love Is Hard,” “Seismic Encounters,” and “Time Traveler’s Checks“

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