Biosecurity

A Brief History Of Vaccines: From Medieval Chinese ‘Variolation’ To Modern Vaccination

Vaccines are an integral aspect of medicine; in the developed world, most children must undergo mandatory vaccinations in order to attend school. The average child is protected from diphtheria, hepatitis A and B, influenza, measles, mumps, polio and whooping cough — all diseases that were historically so hazardous they could easily wipe out thousands of people.

Most vaccines are created from either weakened or dead forms of the biological agents of the diseases themselves. Injecting small amounts of dead microbes into a person stimulates the immune system enough to create antibodies against them and destroy them; this serves as protection from the same microbes later on. Vaccines allow the immune system to maintain a record of the disease, which makes it easier to destroy those threats afterwards.