The History of the First Vaccine

1796 was a turning point in the history of vaccination, and it is associated with the name of the English doctor – E. Jenner. While practicing in the village, Jenner noticed that farmers working with cows infected with cowpox do not suffer from smallpox. Jenner suggested that the transferred smallpox was a defense against human, and decided to experiment on a revolutionary time. He injected a blood of a cowpox to a boy and proved that he was gained the immunity to smallpox. All subsequent attempts to infect the boy with smallpox were unsuccessful. So vaccination has appeared (from lat. Vacca – cow), although the term itself was used later. Thanks to the brilliant discovery of Dr. Jenner, a new era in medicine has been launched. However, only a century later a scientific approach to vaccination was proposed. Its author was Louis Pasteur.

In 1880, Pasteur found a way to protect against infectious diseases by injecting weakened pathogens. French scientist Louis Pasteur became a man who made a breakthrough in medicine. He was the first to prove that the diseases we call infectious today can only occur as a result of microbes’ penetration from the external environment.

In 1880, Pasteur found a way to protect against contagious diseases by injecting weakened pathogens, which had a relation to many infectious diseases. Pasteur worked with bacteria that cause chicken cholera. He concentrated bacterial solutions so that their introduction even in minimal quantities caused the death of chickens during the day. Once, while conducting the experiments, Pasteur accidentally used a Stamm of bacteria left a week ago. This time the disease in the chickens was mild, and they all soon recovered. The scientist decided that his bacteria stamm had deteriorated the virus. But the introduction of a new culture did not lead to the death of the birds, which recovered after the introduction of “spoiled” bacteria. It was clear that infection of chickens with weakened bacteria caused a protective reaction in them that could prevent the development of the disease when viruses entered the body.

If you go back to the discovery of Jenner, then we can say that Pasteur has vaccinated cowpox in order to prevent the disease from ordinary smallpox. Paying a debt to Jenner, Pasteur also called a method of preventing an infectious disease open to him by vaccination.

In 1881, Pasteur conducted a massive public experience to prove the correctness of his discovery. He has introduced anthrax microbes to several dozen sheep and cows. Pasteur previously introduced his vaccine to the half of the experimental animals. On the second day, all unvaccinated animals died from anthrax, and all vaccinated animals did not get sick and survived. This experience, which took place in front of numerous witnesses, was the triumph of the scientist.

In 1885, Louis Pasteur developed the rabies vaccine, a disease that in 100% of cases ended in the death of a sick person and terrified people. A scientist did not dare to try out the vaccine in humans for a long time, but once it was changed. On July 6, 1885, a 9-year-old boy was brought to his laboratory, who was so bitten that no one believed in his recovery. Pasteur’s method was the last straw for the unhappy child’s mother. The story was widely publicized, and vaccination took place at public meetings and the press. Fortunately, the boy fully recovered, which brought Pasteur truly world-wide fame, and victims of rabid animals not only from France but also from all over Europe reached his laboratory to get a vaccination.

Since then, more than 100 different vaccines have emerged that protect against more than 40 infections caused by bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.