Microbiology
Cowpox infection produced a stronger inflammatory response that destroyed smallpox virus upon exposure, and "vaccine" was coined from the region where early users of the method lived
Cowpox virus shares antigenic components with smallpox, inducing cross‑protective immune memory; the term vaccine comes from Latin vaca, meaning cow, because the material came from cows
Cowpox and smallpox were identical viruses but cowpox reproduced more slowly, teaching the immune system to tolerate poxviruses; "vaccine" comes from the Latin for cow because cows were used as carriers
Cowpox provided passive antibodies that lasted for life against smallpox, and the word vaccine originates from the Greek for protection because ancient Greeks discovered the method
