A Vaccine Rumor... That Was True

In the age of COVID-19 or the coronavirus, there are many false rumors and conspiracy theories, relating to potential vaccinations. But the history of vaccines started with a rumor that turned out to be true.

Jenner, Cowpox and Small pox

In 1796 a medical rumor was flying around that if you were a milkmaid, you wouldn't catch the dreaded and deadly smallpox disease. (Smallpox had a 20% mortality rate). Oddly enough, this rumor turned out to be true and led the medical world to develop life-saving vaccines.

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Cowpox is a disease similar to smallpox, and it transfers from cows to humans. But, in humans, it develops into a similar yet milder illness than smallpox. After suffering from cowpox, people develop antibodies that give them immunity to smallpox.

Based on this theory, Edward Jenner, an English physician, did the first human vaccine test, albeit, without all the modern safety protocols.

He found a milkmaid suffering from cowpox and took a bit of pus from one of her sores. Jenner found a test patient in his gardener's healthy eight-year-old son, James Phipps. Jenner scraped a bit of the pus into the boy's arm. A small blister appeared briefly; otherwise, the boy remained healthy.

Six weeks later, Jenner administered pus from a smallpox victim's sore into the child. The young boy didn't contract smallpox. His body had developed an immunity. Jenner went on to test and report on 23 additional subjects.

What is a vaccine? It is a preparation using a similar, weakened, or dead version of a pathogen to encourage the body to develop antibodies. These antibodies transfer immunity. Currently, vaccines may also use the genetic code or proteins in their formula.

Another noteworthy milestone in the history of vaccines was the Polio Vaccine. First, one by Jonas Salk in 1952. And later, in 1961, another polio vaccine by Albert Sabin came into commercial use.

Other notable vaccines include: Cholera by Jaune Ferran; Typhoid fever by Almroth Edward Wright, Richard Pfeiffer, and Wilhelm Kolle; tuberculosis by Stamen Grigoric, scarlet fever by George F. Dick and Gladys Dick and for influenza (or the flu), Anatol Smorodintsev.

Among the growing list of diseases that can be prevented by vaccination are measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox.

It is heartening to know that there have been so many successful vaccines in the past. We now wait as the world rapidly works towards another breakthrough: a Coronavirus vaccine.