The illness of empress Maria Theresa as a trigger for the adoption of variolation in Austria (1768)

Abstract

In 1767, Austrian Empress Maria Theresa contracted smallpox and survived, but the disease had already claimed the lives of several members of her family. These personal losses renewed her interest in preventive measures against smallpox. Although initially skeptical, she authorized her physician, Gerard van Swieten, to explore the emerging practice of variolation. In 1768, Habsburg children were variolated by Jan Ingen-Housz—a landmark event in Austrian public health. To commemorate these events, the empire issued medals that not only celebrate scientific progress but also promote the state's commitment to the well-being of its people.

Variolation—the deliberate inoculation with smallpox matter to induce immunity—originated in Asia in the 16th century and spread through the Ottoman Empire before reaching Western Europe in 1721. Though often overshadowed in historical accounts by later developments, variolation was a crucial precursor to modern vaccination. In Austria, it paved the way for the first Jennerian vaccination (the inoculation of cowpox), administered in 1799 by Dr. Paskal Joseph Ritter Ferro—less than a year after Edward Jenner's groundbreaking publication in 1798. Smallpox was ultimately declared eradicated in 1980, but this achievement rested on earlier innovations, including variolation.