Edward Jenner: The World's First Vaccination

In his book, Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, Paul A. Offit, M.D. presents us with a thoroughly in-depth look behind the veil of the vaccine controversy. Specifically here in the United States. Offit starts us off with the history of vaccinations giving insights into not just their creation but the controversy that has surrounded them since the beginning. We learn how these questions around safety and personal rights started and who have been the major decision makers in history. We hear about the groups and people that support vaccinations and those that do not.

Requiring vaccinations is a highly debatable topic in the United States today. An article by Ronald Bayer, “The continuing tensions between individual rights and public health,” is one of the most reliable sources in the case study. The author has a PhD from the University of Chicago and focuses his research on issues of social justice and ethical matters. Bayer has also previously been a consultant to the World Health Organization on ethical issues related to public health. This makes him very knowledgeable about the topic and a highly credible source.

While there were others who discovered vaccination before Jenner, such as Benjamin Jesty (1737–1816), Jenner’s research was the “first scientific attempt to control an infectious disease by the deliberate use of vaccination”. Furthermore, Jenner was ardent in his investigation and was persistent in publicising his vaccine. For instance, Figure 1 below shows an extract from a letter written by Jenner himself on the instructions for vaccine inoculation targeted to those who were interested in the smallpox vaccine. By 1800, his effort led to a widespread use of vaccination in majority of the European countries. This new knowledge on inhibition of the spread of contagious diseases was a reason that led to the ideology that the “right of the individual to contract and spread infectious disease should be suspended”.

He was confronted with political cartoons that showed babies with cow-horns growing out of their sites. There was also a group of London physicians that attempted to disprove Jenner’s ideas, but ended up confirming his claims by inoculating thousands of people with their own cow-deprived vaccines. Widespread smallpox vaccination began in the early 1800s and was met with public criticism from sanitary, religious, and political objections. Similar to parent’s objections today, the vaccines induced a sense of fear because it was so unfamiliar to the world.

Since the ancient times, Smallpox has devastated the world, killing millions of people. Often referred to as the speckled monster, the smallpox disease originated in the new world when Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors and early english settlers arrived in the americas. Although there had been attempts to cure the disease, including variolation, (that came from asia 2,000 years ago), they all had a high risk of death. It wasn’t until 1796, when Edward Jenner, a english paleontologist came up with a new form of vaccine, it was called inoculation.

Child vaccinations ensure that children have a well-armed immune system to fight off deadly diseases. Vaccinations contain antigens that trigger the immune system to make antibodies for that specific disease; this allows the body to think it has been infected, without causing the person any symptoms (Reddy 1). Throughout the United States, parents have been debating whether to delay, refuse, or accept the vaccinations that are given to their children. Why would you not want to give your child the best possible chance to fight off a deadly disease? Vaccinating children does not only affect the child, but also the community.

There has been a huge controversy concerning vaccination for children from many parents. Many parents had different reason on why they were for or against vaccination. Some for religious purposes, concerned about the long-term side effects. Most parents feel that vaccine is poison. The fact that doctors are injecting something into their child can be terrifying.

Vaccinations are one of the biggest advancements in Medicine today. For example, polio had spread across the United States in the 1950’s claiming thousands of lives a

Editor, This letter is to express the importance and support of vaccinations for adults and children. Vaccinations were created to protect against dangerous communicable diseases. This can be observed in past history when during the times of early colonial America, the smallpox virus spread quickly among growing populations. The smallpox disease killed as almost as many as half of those who caught it. When one of the earliest forms of immunization, also known as inoculation, it was revealed that immunizing people did help reduce the number of deaths.

Required Immunity Mandatory vaccinations for children in public schools have been the center of much debate since laws were first developed to regulate immunization. Fears from parents about side effects and adverse reactions have steered many away from wanting to vaccinate their children despite the numerous infectious diseases they prevent. These debates have gotten in the way of progression in schools for preventing the spread of disease. To me, the risks of not vaccinating children are far greater than the risks of adverse reactions.

Many people may think that vaccination is a bad thing, that instead of preventing it causes illness, that is not natural. Natural or not, there are many reasons as to why we should vaccinate us and the younger generation. Most of the time children don’t like vaccination because it hurt, but is the responsibility of a parent to seek the wellbeing of his or her child. Vaccination it’s a preventive measure of various diseases. Unfortunately, things like the anti-vaccination movement, the misinformation on the Internet, and the believe that vaccination causes more damage than is worth, have led our society to think that it’s right not to vaccinate.

Modern medicine provides people with the ability to protect themselves from the world’s most fatal diseases. Merely a century ago, it was not uncommon for a child to die as a result of diseases such as polio, pertussis, and tuberculosis. Today, it is highly unlikely for a person to contract these diseases, let alone die from them. However, refusal of vaccinations has been increasing throughout the years due to the anti-vaccination movement. This movement declares mandatory vaccines unconstitutional and vaccinations overall as the cause of autism.

The year of 1853 deemed obligatory for all children born after the first of August to receive routine immunizations. By 1898, one hundred years after Edward Jenner’s unveiling of the vaccine, smallpox in London had fallen dramatically – to one in every 100,000 (less than 50 people per

Edward Jenner had successfully vaccinated 100,000 people by 1801 (Ridgway 40). Jenner wrote and published his report on his own in 1798 (Ridgway 37). Jenner’s contributions went beyond just the vaccination for smallpox, he laid the groundwork for immunology (“Edward Jenner” np) Centuries after his

Vaccinations can help prevent future diseases or viruses in the upcoming life of a child. According to an article from vaccines.gov, “Because of advances in medical science, your child can be protected against more diseases than ever before. Some diseases that once injured or killed thousands of children, have been eliminated completely and others are close to extinction- primarily due to stay safe and effective vaccinations.” Throughout the years more viruses have been prevented due to vaccinations in children. There has also been an increase in the amount of children that get vaccinations at a young age.