Answer:
A). However, the most successful way of combating smallpox before the discovery of vaccination was inoculation.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to the given excerpt, the author talks about smallpox and the various ways of battling it and the solution that proved effective, which was the use of vaccination after inoculation.
A central claim simply means the main point of a body of work that unifies the paragraph or sentence.
The sentence from this excerpt that states the central claim of the text is "However, the most successful way of combating smallpox before the discovery of vaccination was inoculation."