The Vaccine Against Cowpox Also Gave Protection Against The Smallpox Disease

Diseases will always travel throughout the world and it will continue to affect children severely if they are not vaccinated. One source known as Benefits from Immunization During the Vaccines for Children Program Era pointed out that the number of children born each year can be prevented, “Approximately 4 million children are born in the United States each year, each of whom is vulnerable to vaccine-preventable pathogens that continue to circulate” (Whitney, Zhou, Singleton and Schuchat 4). The number of children born each year can have an enormous impact on society, there can be a massive epidemic. People do not want their child to be exposed to these deadly infectious disease, especially if they are preventable.

In the recent years, vaccines have been in the center of many heated debates. The main one seems to be, are they causing other illnesses in the process of eliminating others? Many parents in the last four years have started opting their children out of the required vaccines right from birth. This has lead to a rise in infectious and contagious disease outbreaks all over the United States and the rest of the world.

Until the development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796, inoculation using the live smallpox virus was the only way to protect people from the deadly disease. Those inoculated had a chance of contracting the full virus and potentially dying from the disease. When Edward Jenner discovered that he could use a similar disease found in cattle, he began the modern era of vaccination (The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 2015). Over the next 200 years, smallpox was essentially driven extinct by vaccination programs. Due to vaccines, a disease that killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century alone now only exists in a Center for Disease Control laboratory. (Flight, 2011).

The first major discoveries that laid the foundation for technological advances in the world of vaccinations were that of Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur. In 1796, Jenner took on smallpox. He had been informed that milkmaids seemed to be immune to the disease, however, upon further inspection he realized that the women all had a lesser form of smallpox, called cowpox, on their hands. He began to theorize that cowpox played a role as to why the women never contracted the deadly disease. To test his theory, he rubbed pus from a cowpox wound into a laceration of a young boy and then exposed him to smallpox. Weeks later, the boy still hadn’t contracted the more lethal disease, smallpox. He called this a vaccine, however, he had no idea as to why this was or what the connection was between the two diseases. As such, people of this age were skeptical to test the new vaccine.

The single most essential development in the fight against infectious disease has been the creation of vaccines to inoculate individuals against a variety of incredibly dangerous viruses, bacteria, parasites, and pathogens1. Following their development in 1796, vaccinations have lead to unimaginable progress in the medical field as vaccine intervention has facilitated a reduction in the morbidity and mortality associated with infectious disease and by extension, contributed to an enhanced of quality life for all individuals1. Despite the incredible benefits associated with vaccines there is still the potential for adverse events to occur as a result of vaccination2, as no medical intervention is completely free of risk. Therefore it is essential

A clear definition of a vaccination is, “the generic term for immunization procedures. Immunization is a procedure whereby living or nonliving materials are introduced into the body…:” (Nosal, 1999) The concept that people who survive an infectious disease do not get the same disease again is the basis for the administering of vaccinations. Vaccines are normally given to healthy individuals for the prevention of diseases. Vaccines work by using a human host to provide a stimulus to the immune system. Immunization is used for viral and bacterial diseases. Rappuolli reports and predicts, “Vaccines will not only be used to prevent infections, but also to cure chronic infectious diseases, tumors, diseases and allergies.” (1999) Even though

A British physician named Edward Jenner changed the world of health and medicine forever with the creation of vaccines. In 1796 Edward Jenner used matter from cowpox pustules to protect patients against the smallpox disease (Introduction to vaccine safety, n.d.) . This method proved to be successful and since then many vaccines have been created based on this method to help further protect millions of people against various diseases. Unfortunately though there are many people in today's society who believe that vaccines really do far more damage than good. Many of the people who disagree with the use of vaccines will not only refuse to be treated with vaccines, they will also try to convince others that the use of vaccines should be

The vaccine was discovered back in 1796 by the English physician and scientist Edward Jenner. Little did he know that he just made one of the most important discoveries in human existence. The vaccine consisted of cowpox pus that he later injected into to a little eight year old boy, James Phillips. After 2 week the boy had recovered from the cowpox and when exposed to smallpox, his body was not affected. The scientist was amazed and later on conducted an experiment which consisted of 12 people being inoculated with cowpox pus and later on exposed to the deadly disease of smallpox. Sir Edward Jenner concluded, “that the cow-pox protects the human constitution from the infection of smallpox”.This laid the foundation for modern vaccinology. The

The introduction of vaccinations were key in the reduction of illness during childhood. Vaccines provide an individual with active acquired immunity and are created from either an attenuated or dead form of an organism responsible for causing a particular disease, thereby initiating the body’s immune system against the organism. The first vaccine was discovered by Edward Jenner in 1797 to prevent smallpox, a common disease with devastating effects, causing up to a 60% mortality rate during the 1800s . The increasing vaccination of children and adults over time, combined with efforts by the World Health Organisation to systematically remove incidents of smallpox, lead to the removal of smallpox worldwide. This was achieved in 1977

Laying the foundation for modern vaccinology in 1796, Edward Jenner observed a milkmaid with the cowpox infection appeared to be immune to the outbreak of smallpox. By inoculating an eight year old boy with the pus from an infected milkmaid, and exposing smallpox material to the boy weeks later, Jenner demonstrated smallpox immunization; as the boy never fell ill (Stern, 2005).

These diseases can be especially serious for infants and very young children. Following the recommended immunization schedule protects infants and children by providing immunity early in life, before they are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases. If a young child falls behind the recommended schedule, parents and health care professionals should use the catch-up immunization schedule to quickly get the child up-to-date, reducing the amount of time the child is left vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases. Parents may not have heard of some of today’s vaccines or the serious diseases they prevent. Of course, besides the 14 vaccine-preventable diseases, there are serious diseases with no vaccines to prevent them. Health care professionals who treat seriously ill children are eager to offer even more potentially life-saving vaccines. The process of developing a vaccine is long and challenging, but the benefits can be

According to the CDC about 2.5 million of the 10.5 million deaths worldwide per year among children (age < 5yrs) are caused by diseases for which vaccines are available [1]. Before the middle of the last century, diseases like whooping cough, polio, measles, haemophilus influenzae, and rubella struck hundreds of thousands of infants, children and adults in the U.S. [1,2]. Thousands died every year from them [1]. As vaccines were developed and became widely used,

Vaccines have been considered one of the greatest medical achievements, and are instrumental in health promotion. Vaccines play a major role in lowering the risk of exposure to diseases. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends 29 doses of 9 vaccines plus an annual flu vaccine for children ages 0 to six (CDC, 2017). There are twelve diseases that have been considered potentially dangerous that children are routinely vaccinated against. They include: Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Hepatitis A and B, Pneumococcal disease, Varicella (Chicken Pox), and Haemophilus Influenza Type B (HIB disease). There is much debate about the safety of vaccinations. Those who oppose vaccinations believe that a child can

Vaccinations are a very controversial subject in the United States and it is very important that children are vaccinated. It is especially important for newborns to receive the few vaccines they can and even more important that the adults around them are vaccinated as well. Newborns are less likely to catch Pertussis if their mothers are vaccinated for Pertussis while pregnant and if the adults in their life are vaccinated as well. Pertussis, also known as Whooping Cough is a disease that causes rapid coughing fits that could lead to vomiting and exhaustion. Children under one could require a visit to the hospital. (Merino, N. 2015) There are many important reasons a child’s parent should choose to vaccinate, but most importantly parents should vaccinate to prevent the spreading of deadly diseases.

Ever since the introduction of vaccinations by Edward Jenner in 1796, vaccinations have been a highly debated topic. Jenner was the first US citizen to propose a vaccination method for the small pox disease. He proposed that patients be infected with tissue and fluid from a cowpox blister. Jenner noticed that people who were exposed to cowpox due to them working with cows often, did not contract smallpox at a later time. His first test subject was a young boy who was inoculated with tissue from a cowpox lesion. Aside from a mild fever, the boy had no other adverse reactions. When he was inoculated with a dose of smallpox lesion 2 months later, the boy was perfectly fine and did not contract smallpox. Even then, Jenner was obviously met with skepticism and dubiousness. Some reasons for this skepticism included religious and sanitary reasons. More notably, it was until the late 1800s when the amount of controversy about vaccines increased dramatically. In 1885, Louis Pasteur expanded on Jenner’s work by creating a vaccine for rabies, this time using an attenuated, weaker form. Pasteur is more commonly known for his process of pasteurizing milk by heating it to destroy the bacteria. Another notable vaccine was created in 1955 by Jonas Edward Salk. Salk helped create the vaccine for polio. In my next paragraph, I will discuss how vaccinations work.