Caption:

Certificate issued to the Honourable Mrs Ferguson as an honorary member of the London Vaccine Institution on 10th May 1826. Vaccination is the procedure of introducing dead or inactivated disease-causing micro-organisms into the body in order to promote the production of antibodies in the body, providing immunity against the disease. The first successful vaccination was carried out by Edward Jenner (1749-1823) in 1798, against smallpox.