Sitting patiently in the Doctors chair, you are dreading the though of the needle piercing your skin and releasing its contents into your system. You are told that this injection will protect you against certain diseases and improve your immunity, but what does it actually do to your body? This injection -more commonly referred to as a Vaccination- has a significant power as it determines whether you are protected from a disease or whether you will contract it. A vaccine is described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease, where it contains an agent that resembles a disease causing micro-organism often made up of a weakened or dead form of the microbe. [1]
The introduction of the vaccine prevents 2-3 million deaths across all ages every year[2] but who do we have to thank for this invention? There is very early research to suggest that this discovery dates back to 1000CE where the Chinese employed Smallpox inoculations across the nation. This idea was later backed up in 1661, where after the Emperor Fu-lin died of Smallpox, his third son then became Emperor, whom had already survived the disease. In his new role, he wrote a letter to the Chinese Population detailing his support in inoculations. Smallpox was an infectious disease, characteristic for its devastation to life loss between the 3rd and 19th century. To this day, it is only 1 of the 2 diseases which has been completely eradicated from earth. It is this disease which sparked the idea of vaccinations . The first concept to which individuals were found to immune to Smallpox was found in 1706 in African Slaves. They were found to have been variolated which is a process where powdered smallpox scabs or fluids from infected individuals were inserted or rubbed onto superficial scratches on an unaffected individuals. This process had the disadvantage of the inoculating agent being used was still an active form of Smallpox and although it was less toxic, it still had the potential to kill. Despite this risk, in 1721 this practise had spread to America and England, with the mortality rate of Smallpox decreasing from 20-30% to 1-2%. [3] In 1768, it was announced that Catherine The Great of Russia had been inoculated in secret, and due to her having a successful recovery, she later implored others to follow suit. However when researching this, it begged me to ask the question, Why was she inoculated in secret? Did they not have faith in the invention and if she hadn't had made a full recovery would the Russian Royals discredit the inoculations in order to have protect their subjects?
Perhaps the greatest person involved in the history of vaccines was Edward Jenner – an English physician and scientist – who is responsible for the name Vaccination. However it was not by his own research that Jenner created the vaccine against Smallpox, it was with the help of English Physician John Fewster and Dorset Farmer Benjamin Jesty. John Fewster (1768) had conducted research to see that prior infection to cowpox made the individual immune to Smallpox. Benjamin Jesty was one of the first individuals who was successfully able to vaccinate individuals, which in this case was his wife and children. This took place in 1774 during the Smallpox Epidemic in England. Despite this amazing work in inducing immunity, it wasn't until Edward Jenner conducted his work that this procedure was widely understood.
Jenner proposed the hypothesis that the pus found in blisters of Milkmaids who had contracted Cowpox had made them immune to the disease of Smallpox. An experiment was conducted to test this hypothesis on the 14th of May 1796, where Jenner scraped pus from Cowpox Blisters and inoculated James Phipps (the 8 year old son of Jennner’s gardener) in both arms. James did not contract a full infection but was seen to have some uneasiness and a fever. Jenner then continued with the experiment, where he injected variolous material into the 8 year old, which was the common method of inoculation at the time. No further sign of infection was seen despite being in contact with further variolous material. This result demonstrated that cowpox matter which has been transferred in a human chain from one individual to the next, provided protection from the deadly disease of smallpox. [4]
With this new invention and the possibility of it preventing thousands of deaths, you would think that the vaccine would immediately be implemented into society. It actually wasn't until 1840, that the British government banned Variolation and provided vaccinations against cowpox free of charge to the British population. This delay in implementation was due to research being conducted on the origin of the vaccine’ strains of diseases, side effects and their strength. This included the research of Edward Ballard in 1836 where he discovered that overtime the potency of the vaccine declined and proposed the idea of including multiple strains of cowpox within the vaccination. This was seen to cause a dramatic difference in the amount of time the vaccine’s effects lasted, and by 1853 the Smallpox vaccine became mandatory within the first 3 months of life. Failure of compliance with the “United Kingdom Vaccination Act – 1853” resulted in the parents being fined or imprisoned. [4] This was the governments way of displaying to the public the necessity in the requirement of the vaccine.
Maurice Hilleman was perhaps the individual who benefited most from Jenner’s research, as this American Microbiologist is described as the “most successful Vaccinologist in History” due to his development of over 40 vaccinations – 14 of which are still in circulation today. One of these includes the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) Vaccine, the first approved vaccination to incorporate multiple live strains of viruses, often being described as the attenuated vaccine. This vaccine is typically given to an infant of 1 year or older and was introduced to induce immunity against the 3 diseases less painfully than getting 3 individual injections. It is this vaccine which has perhaps caused the most controversy due to its “possible but not proven” links to Autism. The controversy started in 1998, where Andrew Wakefield – a former English Doctor – published a paper stating how 12 children experienced Autism and Bowel Disease shortly after the vaccine was administered. From his research, he recommended that this form of the MMR vaccine be suspended and instead, a single antigen vaccination can be given over a period of time. Unbeknown to the public, Wakefield had already applied for a patent for a single antigen vaccination for the fight against Measles, and therefore would have gained great status and financial gain from his results. This was one of the first cases were the public went completely against the healthcare system in the UK, where the uptake rate of the MMR vaccine quickly plummeted over parents fear for their child’s health. Since that research was produced over 20 years ago, there has been hundreds of studies into the link between MMR vaccine and Austism, and there is still so reputable, relevant study which has confirmed the findings listed in the paper which was produced in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and 12 other co authors. Now referred to as the “unfortunate rumour”, Wakefield’s research has taken a toll on the Vaccination statistics around the world, as there is still the concern of exactly what the vaccine is doing to our body. The World Heath Organisation has recently reported that the Global Vaccination coverage has stalled at 86% [5] and there is an estimated 19.5 million infants missing out on the basic vaccinations.[6] Is this due to the research published in 1998 or due to the Public’s ever wondering mind as to what exactly the vaccine is and what it is doing to the body?
By now, we are well aware that a Vaccine contains dead or reduced toxicity strains of a disease, but this is not its only components. Some of the other contents of the Vaccine, have also caused controversy within the general public as the need for them to be present in the vaccination is somewhat unknown. One example of this was Thimersol, a mercury containing antimicrobial which was added to prevent the growth and contamination of potential harmful bacteria. [7] This was removed from childhood vaccinations due to the unknown side effects it may cause however it may still be present in Mulit-Use Influenza vaccinations.
Being born and raised in Ireland, we are very fortunate to have access to the healthcare system which has allowed us to be immunised against diseases which have once caused widespread epidemics across the world. However the question still remains, what do the vaccinations do to the body? Yes they provide us with long lasting or life long immunity to certain diseases but are they causing other minimal changes in our body? I believe that this area is such an important aspect of the Future, in terms of the educating the future generations on the causes and contents of vaccinations and also improving the potential side effects of the vaccines. When researching this topic we need to be particularly aware of Children as they are the ones which are going to be living with the after effects of the vaccinations and the possible outcomes if a suitable inoculation cannot be introduced.
The introduction of the Vaccine has been a great invention into the modern day where in the words of the World Health Organisation and of society, “Vaccines have greatly reduced disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide.” [8]