Essay on Vaccination of Smallpox

Edward Jenner once said, “I hope that someday the practice of producing cowpox in human beings will spread over the world- when that day comes, there will be no more smallpox.” This statement is one that has proved true by the implementation of vaccines made with cowpox as he wished for. Edward Jenner was the man who found the vaccine for smallpox and helped to rid the world of this dreadful disease. Without him, the disease that killed three hundred million people in the twentieth century alone would still be running rampant in the world today, and who knows how dangerous it would be. With the distribution of the vaccine, the virus and its impact decreased to that of a minimal impact. There are many things that are unique to this vaccine, such as the need for the vaccine, how the vaccine was discovered, and the impact of the vaccine today. 

Beginning in the time of Egyptian rule and ending after a widespread outbreak in Europe in the twentieth century, smallpox was known by all as a very deadly and dangerous disease. This virus killed billions by infecting people with sores and causing them to throw up, become feverish, and often die. Thirty percent of the people who contracted this virus would eventually die after only two weeks of being sick. As can be seen, something needed to be done and fast. The scientists of the time learned that once surviving the disease you could not get it again. Therefore, they tried infecting healthy people with smallpox scabs, but this only worked some of the time. The people needed a cure and fast.

So, many scientists got to work on trying to find the cure for smallpox. However, Edward Jenner was the first to find it. He had been talking to a milkmaid and she said that she would not get smallpox because she had already got cowpox from her cow, named Blossom. This sparked an idea in Edward. With the permission of one of his servants, he tested his theory by infecting the servant’s son with dead cowpox scabs. After a week of fever and illness, the boy returned to normal, and after additional testing was indeed found to be unable to get smallpox. Edward further tested his theory, and after it was found to be true his idea was spread throughout Europe in an attempt to rid the continent of smallpox.

Due to Edward’s research, the continent was healed. Everyone went from doing variolation to vaccination by means of injecting less harmful cowpox into them rather than dangerous smallpox pus. This vaccine was able to stop the virus from spreading to other places or generations. Since the virus is airborne and goes from person to person if no one contracted the disease no one else could get sick from it. This means that people today do not have to worry about getting their smallpox vaccination because of the mass vaccination of people in the twentieth century. There are, however, rare cases of people getting the disease, but there are very few times in which this happens. Due to the vaccine smallpox has become a worry of the past.

In conclusion, smallpox was a dangerous disease of the time, but thanks to the discovery of vaccination by Edward Jenner it is no longer threatening today’s society. Many people had to suffer, however, before the vaccine was found. It was a strange and scary part of our history, but it benefited us in the long run. As can be seen by all of this information the need for vaccinations, the discovery of vaccinations, and the distribution of the vaccine caused the vaccine to become one that you could not forget. Nonetheless, you must not forget to send your thanks to your local cows, because the cure for smallpox is all thanks to a cow named Blossom.

Citations:

“ACAM2000 (Smallpox (Vaccinia) Vaccine, Live): Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Interactions, Warning.” RxList, RxList, 27 Apr. 2020, www.rxlist.com/acam2000-drug.htm. 

Riedel, Stefan. “Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination.” Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center), Baylor Health Care System, Jan. 2005, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1200696/#:~:text=The%20origin%20of%20smallpox%20as,means%20of%20ancient%20Egyptian%20merchants.

TEDEducation, director. How We Conquered the Deadly Smallpox Virus - Simona Zompi. YouTube, YouTube, 28 Oct. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqUFy-t4MlQ&t=143s.