Immunizations--a history lesson

When did immunizations (vaccinations) come about?  Here’s a history lesson for us.  According to The Little Book of Medical Breakthroughs, a chemist named Louis Pasteur gets credit for immunizations.  Pasteur recognized that something (he thought maybe germs) caused beer and wine to ferment.  In 1879 this was radical thinking.  He began to identify germs (microorganisms) and what illness different germs caused. Pasteur injected chickens with old, weakened cholera germs.  When the chickens survived, he injected the same chickens (and a second group of chickens which had not been vaccinated) with a new strong batch of cholera germs.  The vaccinated chickens did not get sick while the second group (not vaccinated) became ill. Pasteur continued experimenting with vaccines and expanded his work to include anthrax and rabies.  The first rabies vaccine was used on people in 1885.  We have Louis Pasteur to thank for the concept of vaccines (immunizations).