The history of vaccinations dates back to the early 10th century China. Chinese physicians smeared smallpox samples on the skin to confer immunity. This practice spread to Africa and Turkey, and decades later to Europe and America. Edward Jenner later inoculated cowpox material into humans and demonstrated that this was effective in protecting against smallpox.[1] Jenner’s innovation opened the door to modern vaccination practices.
Jenner initially noticed that milkmaids often did not contract smallpox. This observation led him, in 1796, to inoculate material from cowpox lesions from a milkmaid’s hands to James Phipps, his gardener’s son, by scraping the boy’s arm with the cowpox infected metal (similar to vaccination). Later Jenner demonstrated that James did not contract smallpox when he was in contact with the disease. He named his discovery ‘vaccination’, from the Latin for a cow (‘vacca’), and ‘vaccinia,’ which means cowpox.
The main difference between administering antibiotics and vaccination is that an antibiotic is designed to kill germs in the body, either during an infection or at the time of initial exposure to infection, whereas vaccination is usually administered before exposure to the disease occurs and depends on stimulating the host’s response to infection. This is a more sustainable approach, as the vaccine strengthens the immune system, so that it remembers the germs and fights against them should the body re-encounter them again at a later time.
In addition, vaccination can reduce the incidence of bacterial and viral infections in a population, thus reducing the overall use of antibiotics. Therefore, vaccines also have a role in fighting against antimicrobial resistance.[2]
Check out these videos about vaccines:
Our Best Short: The importance of Vaccines for Older Adults
Measles: To vaccinate or not?
Measles: To vaccinate or not?
References
1 Riedel, S. (2005). Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination. Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings,18(1), 21-25. doi:10.1080/08998280.2005.11928028
2 Bloom, D. E., Black, S., Salisbury, D., & Rappuoli, R. (2018). Antimicrobial resistance and the role of vaccines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,115(51), 12868-12871. doi:10.1073/pnas.1717157115