History of Vaccines

History of Vaccines The history of vaccines begins with the long history of infectious diseases in humans. Smallpox was the first recorded infectious disease that spread worldwide. Edward Jenner was the first to start the fight against the disease and set precedents for vaccines. He used cowpox materials to create immunity to smallpox in 1796, and his methods underwent modifications over the following 200 years, which eventually resulted in the eradication of smallpox. Louis Pasteur’s 1885 rabies vaccine was the next to make an impact on human disease, which led to the dawn of bacteriology (the study of bacteria). Antitoxins and vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, and more were developed through the 1930s. The middle of the 20th century was a very significant time for vaccine research and development. Scientist were able to grow viruses in labs, and that allowed them too rapidly discover and develop new vaccines, like the vaccine for polio. Vaccines were also developed for diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella which reduced the amount of diseases that vaccines were not discovered for. Maurice Ralph Hilleman was an American microbiologist who specialized in vaccinology and developed over 36 vaccines, including the vaccines, that are still used today, for measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia and Haemophilus influenzae bacteria. From the early harassment of smallpox, to the establishment of vaccination mandates, to the effect of war and social unrest on vaccine-preventable diseases. Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, and Maurice Hilleman were pioneers in vaccine development receive particular attention as