The Epidemic Of Smallpox : A Debate For Many Parents

First, in 1796, a doctor named Edward Jenner performed the very first vaccination. “Taking pus from a cowpox lesion on a milkmaid’s hand, Jenner inoculated an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps. Six weeks later Jenner variolated two sites on Phipps ' arm with smallpox, yet the boy was unaffected by this as well as subsequent exposures” (Minna & Markel, 2005)& (Cave, 2008). The first vaccination allowed people to recognize that it was beneficial for their health. It provided the base for the rest of the variations of vaccinations to come. Vaccinations began with the notion that it is rooted in the science of immunology. Throughout history, there have been many variations of this first vaccine for things such as small pox, mumps, malaria and guinea worm. (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d.)

Edward Jenner invented a vaccine by using a naturally-acquired and mild cowpox to prevent smallpox. More than one thousand people were vaccinated in England alone within three years. The print media played an important role in spreading the word about these vaccinations and smallpox was finally eradicated in 1980 (Bouldin, 2010).

However, Jenner’s invention became a common practice only a few years after he released it to the public, and according to The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia, “By 1890 smallpox had virtually been eradicated from Britain.” (“Jenner, Edward (1749-1823)”) From the information about the first vaccination, we can see that vaccinations have been proven to eliminate deadly diseases, whether they receive opposition or not. Without immunizations, we would be overcome with diseases, such as smallpox, polio, and measles.

Throughout history, smallpox has been one of the dreaded scourges that inflicted mankind. World Health Organization (WHO) stated that smallpox is responsible for the 300 million death cases worldwide in the twentieth century. (Fenner, Henderson, Arita, Jezek , & Ladnyi, 1988) (Plotkin, 2004) It was only after Dr Edward Jenner’s development on the principle of vaccination that provided the only accurate technique for the prevention of smallpox. The introduction of vaccinia vaccine enabled the global eradication of naturally occurring smallpox in 1970, it is recorded that the last known smallpox case recorded was in Somalia after the eradication. (Rappuoli, Miller, & Falkow, 2002) Jenner’s procedure has been a highly effective immunizing agent, however, it seemed that it isn’t a successful fighter to disease because it carries high incidence of adverse side effects and severe complications. (Madigan, Martinko, Stahl , & Clark, 2012)This

Although most people think Edward Jenner was the first person to attempt a vaccination, this is not true. The earliest vaccinations started in the 7th century when snake venom was drank by Buddhists to try to gain immunity from snakebites. In 1796, Edward Jenner, a doctor in England, discovered he could give people immunity to smallpox by injecting them with material from cowpox lesions. Smallpox was a significant disease in most countries and killed millions of people in Europe and Mexico. Steps had already been taken to eradicate smallpox but it was Jenner who discovered using cowpox to immunize against smallpox as being the safest method. Using smallpox to create the vaccine was not safe so Jenner’s idea helped to save many people. This was the beginning of developing vaccines to keep people safe from diseases that were capable of wiping out entire populations. This

Vaccinations were first introduced in the late 18th century by Edward Jenner. He injected a small amount of cowpox in a thirteen year-old boy to demonstrate the effectiveness it had against smallpox, resulting in the development of the first smallpox vaccine in 1798. Because of his discovery, Jenner contributed to the overall annihilation of the disease in 1979 after the vaccine was implemented in different medicines throughout the world (source). Following Jenner, many others produced vaccines to help reduce the fatalities of common diseases such as measles, polio, and rubella, which were once responsible for millions of deaths every year. Now, there is almost no risk of catching these fatal illnesses.

According to the World Health Organization, a vaccine boosts the body’s immunity to a particular disease through the administration of an agent that resembles the disease-causing microbe, which is often composed of the diluted or dead microbe, its toxins or proteins. The agent rouses the immune system identifying it as foreign, destroys it, and then remembers it so that the immune system can easily recognize and destroy these same microbes in the event it encounters it again. It is often said that the first successful vaccine was developed, introduced and administered in 1796 by Edward Jenner to prevent the spread of smallpox. However, evidence points out that the inoculation of smallpox existed in China in 1000 C.E. and was later practiced

When the Smallpox disease made an overpopulated England its territory, it thrived and wiped out thousands of people (“Smallpox Vaccine: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”). Smallpox was a major threat to many countries and civilizations for thousands of years; however, the permanent cure for the disease began in England. During the eighteenth century, a physician by the name of Edward Jenner was credited with the invention of the most important piece of medical technology, the vaccine, and became known as the “Father of Immunology”. Although Edward Jenner encountered errors in his research, and people questioned the ethics of the vaccine trials, he used his knowledge, determination, and medical experience to explore a more efficient and advanced

The concept of vaccines, basically exposure to a disease to trick the body into forming immunity, has been controversial from its beginnings. The history of vaccines began in 1796 with Edward Jenner, a doctor from England, who performed the first immunization (Alexandra, Markel, 2005). Edward Jenner showed that a certain level of immunity could be accomplished by dosing patients with cowpox, which is a close relative of smallpox (Alexandra, Markel, 2005). He then tried, without success, to infect that same

The discovery all began in 1796 when Edward Jenner decided to test a local theory that if a person contracted cowpox they were immune to smallpox. Cowpox is a very similar disease, but is generally found in animals. It can however be contracted by farmers and others close to the sick animal. “Jenner extracted pus from a cowpox scab and inserted it into an incision on the arm of an eight-year-old boy. Although the child contracted a mild virus, he recovered quickly, developing antibodies that built up his immunity to both cowpox and smallpox” (The Feverish Roots). From that he shared his findings and vaccinations were born and are still used today. With the use of vaccinations there comes great benefits. “In a 2005 study on the economic impact of routine childhood immunization in the United States, researchers estimated that for every dollar spent, the vaccination program saved more than $5 in direct costs and approximately $11 in additional costs to society” (Vaccines). Instead of putting people through lots of trouble and hard times when they get ill. It is easier and better for society to be protected by having everyone vaccinated in the first place. “Vaccines protect not only yourself but also others around you” (Vaccines). Because of vaccinations the following illnesses have been completely eliminated if not all then at a large

When a vaccine is given, the human body produces antibodies against the foreign substance, thus creating a defense mechanism for immunity to occur. A vaccine is defined as “any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production” (dictionary.com). The epidemic of smallpox is one of the most groundbreaking moments in medical history, It created the usage of vaccination to be extremely normal. Smallpox had managed to kill millions of people, which was a large part of the population at the time. Edward Jenner came up with a vaccine that could treat the outbreak of

Vaccination is often considered one of the paramount successes in medicine to date. The basis of vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to stimulate an individual's immune system in development of an adaptive immunity to a pathogen. As a result of its invention, vaccination has seen diseases once commonplace in the population have become exceedingly rare and in some cases, entirely eliminated thanks to vaccination (smallpox). However, in order to effectively eradicate those typically transmittable diseases which vaccinations seek to prevent against, a certain percentage of a community must receive the vaccine—this idea is known as herd immunity. Therefore, to maximize the efficiency of vaccination, public health officials made the practice

When a vaccine is given, the human body produces antibodies against the foreign substance, thus creating a defense mechanism for immunity to occur. A vaccine is defined as “any preparation used as a preventive inoculation to confer immunity against a specific disease, usually employing an innocuous form of the disease agent, as killed or weakened bacteria or viruses, to stimulate antibody production” (dictionary.com). The epidemic of smallpox is one of the most groundbreaking moments in medical history, It created the usage of vaccination to be extremely normal. Smallpox had managed to kill millions of people, which was a large part of the population at the time. Edward Jenner came up with a vaccine that could treat the outbreak of smallpox. It only took around fourteen years to see that smallpox was no longer something people needed to fear. The vaccine for smallpox is one of the greatest evidence that vaccines can ad do work. When it comes to children being vaccinated parents seems to always have a extremely strong opinion. Though there is typically no lack of vaccines being distributed there still are some parents that delay vaccinations because they are genuinely concerned about severe allergic reactions or long-term side effects. Times went on and vaccines have become extremely common in America. Although some people view new medicine negatively, we can not disregard the fact that it has the capability to heal people because over time as it has proven throughout

Vaccine also called immunization was derived from Variolae vaccinae, smallpox of the cow named by Edward Jenner, an English physician who was the pioneer of an infectious disease called smallpox. Poland, a writer of the book "Vaccines" interpret the definition of vaccines in a simple phrase. "A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular disease" ("Vaccines"). In other words, vaccinating is an anticipation that gives us protection to a disease that is transmitted. Indeed, vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened microbe. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, and keep a record of it

The institution of vaccination began with smallpox. Smallpox had been a very eminent fatal disease throughout the world, an extremely serious disease from 10,000 BC. It was most likely that the smallpox started by the Egyptian merchants. It was found out that the mummified head of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V showed the symptoms of smallpox. ("Edward Jenner . . .") From that time on, smallpox had spread on to Europe, Asia, and America. "Speckled monster", a nickname for smallpox, had attacked, especially in Europe, where the death rate reached up to 60%. ("Edward Jenner . . .") It had killed millions of people with no one knowing how to prevent it. Even though there were people who survived, one-third went blind and had a huge scar especially on the face. In Europe of an 18th century, 400,000 people died from smallpox every year. ("Edward Jenner . . .") Smallpox had been the very mysterious