Vaccines : The Greatest Medical Developments Of All Time

Vaccinations have been actively used for over 200 years now and have been effective for over 200 years as well. Western medicine’s introduction to the practice is said to have occurred within the eighteenth century, when a traveling British aristocrat, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, reported her observations of Turkish children being injected with pus from smallpox victims. Although this practice seemed quite harsh, most of these children would contract only a mild version of the illness. In return, these recipients would retain a lifelong immunity to this terrible disease (World of Microbiology & Immunology). Similarly, in the United States, a Puritan minister by the name of Cotton Mather learned about inoculation from his African slave, Onesimus. Onesimus claimed that he was inoculated with smallpox pus and never caught the tragic disease (Williams). This type of medicinal treatment was initially rejected by most Western practitioners. They felt it was a dangerous and barbarous practice, but vaccination gained a tremendous amount of support at the turn of the nineteenth century when English physician Edward Jenner created a new smallpox vaccine derived from the relatively mild cowpox virus (Riedel). There’s no doubt that history has shown the positive outcomes of immunization and continued to show them as technology and medicine progressed.

An early form of immunization is variolation which was a practice believed to have originated in China in which dried small pox scabs would be changed into a powder and inhaled through the nose. This technique was spread from China to India and eventually reached the Royal Society of London in the 1700s. After successful variolation stories had traveled to the United States scientists in the United States began to study variolation and eventually began vaccinating. It wasn’t until the early

The more fake or failed lymph failed to protect people against smallpox, the more cowpox fell into ill repute. “While the deluded patient vainly supposed himself secured from the attacks of the smallpox, his imaginary safety leads him into situations where his life is endangered,” Waterhouse wrote, leaving vaccination open to doubt or “contempt”. The worst failure occurred at Marblehead, Massachusetts, which suffered a disastrous smallpox outbreak during a vaccination campaign. Using “virus” that his seafaring son had taken from a pustule on the arm of a sailor vaccinated in London, Dr. Elisha Story vaccinated his daughter on October 2, 1800. Two weeks later she broke out with what Story believed was cowpox but was actually smallpox. Waterhouse was meanwhile supplying Story with vaccine that was either contaminated or inactive. The epidemic eventually sickened 1,000 people, killing 68 of

A shot was developed by Edward Jenner at the end of the 1700’s to try to put an end to small pox. The death rate of small pox was spiraling out of control so they tried to put an end to it. The small pox shot was the first ever vaccine that was successful and actually cured people (How Small Pox Changed the World). Edward Jenner tested his theory of infected people with the cow pox virus to make them immune to small pox, and it miraculously worked. Before the vaccine was discovered/established small pox had been sweeping the nation and killing a lot of people in its path for approximately three thousand years. Small pox was spread by contact or even through the

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.

The global use of vaccines has been very successful in reducing the incidence of infectious diseases and their associated complications. For centuries, infectious diseases were the most common cause of disability and death in the world. Until the 19th century, it was not known what caused these diseases and why some people became seriously ill with an infection while others were less affected.

Mandatory vaccination continues to be a contentious subject in the United States, even though extensive evidence proves inoculation prevents certain diseases. According to A. Plotkin & L. Plotkin (2011), the evolution of the first vaccine commenced in the 1700’s when a physician named Edwards Jenner discovered that cowpox protected individuals from one of the deadliest diseases termed smallpox. The precise virus Jenner used is unclear; however, it was espoused in the extermination of smallpox worldwide. The researchers further explained, the unearthing of the subsequent vaccine known as chicken cholera occurred approximately 80 years later by Louise Pasteur. Ever since, copious vaccines such as rabies, yellow fever, varicella, pneumococcal, mumps and recently HPV have been introduced.

“And so the most successful way of combating smallpox before the discovery of vaccination was inoculation.Inoculation referred to the subcutaneous instillation of smallpox virus into non-immune individuals”(UTUBE).In Europe, new methods of variolation also known as inoculation became quickly known among European doctors. “Since there was also a demand for protection against smallpox, physicians soon began the variolation procedure on a massive scale. Although 2% to 3% of variolated persons died or suffered from diseases transmitted by the procedure itself,

Vaccines change over time as science makes advancements and diseases processes evolve and emerge. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates recognized the now preventable diseases, such as diphtheria and mumps (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015). The first effort to immunize dates back to the 1100’s when children were inoculated with scabs from individuals who recently had small pox, with a technique coined as variolation. Then in 1796, Edward Jenner successfully created the first small pox vaccine (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015).

Imagine a quick spreading rash throughout the entire body, leaving not a single space behind; every opening and crevice in your body, including your mouth and eyes covered in painful bumps accompanied by high fever and severe body aches. Flat red spots transforming into fluid-filled lesions and soon oozing out yellow pus, evidently emitting a pungent odor to anyone who dared get close. The live virus present in the darkening crusty scabs that would soon fall off only to leave behind a deep pitted scarred filled complexion on anyone who was fortunate enough to survive. These scars would be forever remembered as the hallmark for the smallpox epidemic which tormented the world for over 3,000 years. (Riedel “Deadly Diseases”).

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 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

Vaccines are one of the most unknown topics for people. They inject their body with chemicals without regard to what is going into their body and how it is affecting it. I, also, am guilty of doing this. To remove my ignorance and inform others, I am going to research more on this topic. By writing this paper, I am hoping to shed more light on this unfamiliar concept.

Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease, and commonly known as whooping cough because of the uncontrollable coughing which follows infection. However, the immunization against pertussis has two vaccines; DPT and DTaP. DPT contains whole cell pertussis which is pertussis bacteria chemically and heat treated while the DTap version has less bioactive pertussis toxin, both these vaccines are also used to prevent diphtheria and tetanus. DTaP has replaced DPT in numerous countries as it has been deemed safer; DTap will also be the vaccine most referred to as the discontinuation of DPT makes it irrelevant to the purpose of determining whether or not countries should pursue the usage of pertussis vaccines.

Our current society is surrounded by the debatable usage of vaccines and its importance around the world. Since the introduction of immunizations, many diseases have been decreased and even eradicated from humanity. Even though this is true, serious side effects along with lifelong illnesses follow the temporary cure of viruses. A vaccine is a substance that delivers immunity against viruses and is used to stimulate the construction of antibodies. Vaccines are prepared from the disease itself treated to perform as an antigen without inducing the disease (Vaccines). These inoculations are used worldwide and various unknown infections have been speculated as the originations for them. Vaccines were originated as an alternative to cure viruses among people but the harmful symptoms, unknown links to incurable