Vaccination is undoubtedly a miracle of modern medicine. In the past 50 years, it’s saved more lives worldwide than any other medical product. However, the story of vaccination goes back all the way to Ancient Greece.The story of Vaccines did not begin with the first vaccine–Edward Jenner’s use of material from cowpox pustules to provide protection against smallpox. Instead, it begins with the long history of infectious disease in humans, and with early uses of smallpox material to provide immunity to that disease.
Evidence exists that the Chinese employed smallpox inoculation as early as 1000 CE. It was practiced in Africa and Turkey as well, before spreading to Europe and the Americas.
Edward Jenner’s innovations, begun with his successful 1796 use of cowpox material to create immunity to smallpox, quickly made the practice widespread. His method underwent medical and technological changes over the next 200 years, and finally resulted in the eradication of smallpox.
Louis Pasteur’s 1885 rabies vaccine was the next thing to make an impact on human disease. And then, at the dawn of bacteriology, developments rapidly followed. Antitoxins and vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, and more were developed through the 1930s.
The 20th century was an active time for vaccine research and development. Methods for growing viruses in the laboratory led to rapid discoveries and innovations, including the creation of vaccines for polio. Researchers targeted other common childhood diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella, and vaccines for these diseases reduced the disease burden greatly.
Before vaccines are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), they are tested extensively by scientists to ensure they are effective and safe. Evidently, vaccines are the best defense we have against infectious diseases; however, no vaccine is actually 100% safe or effective for everyone because each person’s body reacts to vaccines differently.
As infectious diseases become less common, we hear less about the serious consequences of preventable illnesses and more about the risks associated with vaccines. It’s important to be informed about health choices, but the reality is that Americans have never been healthier than today and vaccines have never been safer than they are today. The benefits of vaccines far outweigh the risks. As science continues to advance, we strive to develop safer vaccines and improve delivery to protect ourselves against disease more effectively.
The past two decades have seen the application of molecular genetics and its increased insights into immunology, microbiology and genomics applied to vaccinology. Current successes include the development of recombinant hepatitis B vaccines, the less reactogenicacellular pertussis vaccine, and new techniques for seasonal influenza vaccine manufacture.
Molecular genetics sets the scene for a bright future for vaccinology, including the development of new vaccine delivery systems, new adjuvants, the development of more effective tuberculosis vaccines, and vaccines against cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), staphylococcal disease, streptococcal disease, and schistosomiasi, etc. Therapeutic vaccines may also soon be available for allergies, autoimmune diseases and addictions.
Future vaccines are likely to have a more complex composition than heretofore, but the principles elucidated by past successes will have continued importance as vaccination is extended to more diseases and to all age groups.
