Set of six vaccinators, France, 1860-1871

The vaccinators used for smallpox vaccination have a spear-like head to prevent the blade going too deep into the skin. The blade would have been dipped in lymph material from a smallpox pustule. Pustules are skin blisters filled with pus that appear approximately five to eight days after vaccination. The blade would then be used to vaccinate another person. This type of arm-to-arm vaccination was…