Medal for cowpox vaccination
The medal for cowpox vaccination was awarded by King Wilhelm I of the United Netherlands by decree of April 18, 1818 as a gold award worth 50 guilders to doctors who had vaccinated at least 100 people with cowpox . Vaccination with the cowpox virus, which is comparatively harmless to humans, offered effective protection against a disease from smallpox , which until the introduction of widespread mass vaccinations had regularly led to severe epidemics with high mortality .
The Kingdom of Belgium retained the award in the part of the Netherlands that belonged to it.
The Belgian decoration was provided with the picture of the king on the front and was surrounded by the inscription Leopold Premier Roi de Belges . A cow was depicted on the back of the medal with the vaccination equipment and the title text indicated the purpose of the medal: Propagation de la Vaccine .
literature
- Gustav Adolph Ackermann: Order book of all in Europe flourishing and extinct orders . Rudolf & Dieterici publishing house, Annaberg 1855.