In 1796 After Gathering Some Circumstantial Evidence From Farmers And Milkmaids Jenner Decided To Try An Experiment
Its said that Jenner was psychologically scarred by that experience, some of his motivation was just how horrific he’d found it, says Owen Gower, manager of Dr Jenners House Museum. He was thinking, I want to find an alternative, something that’s safer, that’s less terrifying.
In 1796, after gathering some circumstantial evidence from farmers and milkmaids, Jenner decided to try an experiment. A potentially fatal experiment. On a child.
He took some pus from cowpox lesions on the hands of a young milkmaid, Sarah Nelms, and scratched it into the skin of eight-year old James Phipps. After a few days of mild illness, James recovered sufficiently for Jenner to inoculate the boy with matter from a smallpox blister. James did not develop smallpox, nor did any of the people he came into close contact with.
Although the experiment worked, by todays standards it was ethically problematic.
Edward Jenner, memorialised here in a statue vaccinating his son, swerved ethical concerns to see whether a cowpox vaccine could save lives
It really wasn’t a clinical trial and the choice of who they vaccinated really makes you uncomfortable, says Sheila Cruickshank, professor of immunology at the University of Manchester.
Nor did Jenner know the science underlying the discovery. There was no understanding that smallpox was caused by the variola virus, and the functioning of the bodys immune system was still a mystery at the time.
Implications Of Pasteurs Work
The theoretical implications and practical importance of Pasteurs work were immense. Pasteur once said, There are no such things as pure and applied science there are only science and the application of science. Thus, once he established the theoretical basis of a given process, he investigated ways to further develop industrial applications.
However, Pasteur did not have enough time to explore all the practical aspects of his numerous theories. One of the most important theoretical implications of his later research, which emerged from his attenuation procedure for vaccines, is the concept that virulence is not a constant attribute but a variable propertya property that can be lost and later recovered. Virulence could be decreased, but Pasteur suspected that it could be increased as well. He believed that increased virulence was what gave rise to epidemics. In Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science , American microbiologist René Dubos quoted Pasteur:
Pasteur was the first to recognize variability in virulence. Today this concept remains relevant to the study of infectious disease, especially with regard to understanding the emergence of diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy , severe acute respiratory syndrome , and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome .
Le Petit Journal
Smallpox And The Story Of Vaccination
Published: 25 April 2019
You are reading in Smallpox and the story of vaccinationPart of Epidemics
Smallpox and vaccination are intimately connected. Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine to prevent smallpox infections, and this success led to the global eradication of smallpox and the development of many more life-saving vaccines.
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Opposition Within The Medical Profession
Jenner’s newly proven technique for protecting people from smallpox did not catch on as he anticipated. One reason was a practical one. Cowpox did not occur widely and doctors who wanted to test the new process had to obtain cowpox matter from Edward Jenner. In an age when infection was not understood, cowpox samples often became contaminated with smallpox itself because those handling it worked in smallpox hospitals or carried out variolation. This led to claims that cowpox was no safer than smallpox inoculation. There were also many surgeons who did not want Jenner to succeed. They were the variolators whose large incomes were threatened by Jenner’s safer and more effective cowpox treatment.
How Did They Help Develop The Pfizer Vaccine
Together with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the couple helped co-develop a jab known as a messenger RNA vaccine.
Conventional vaccines are produced using weakened forms of the virus, but mRNAs use only the virus’s genetic code.
An mRNA vaccine is injected into the body where it enters cells and tells them to create antigens.
These antigens are recognised by the immune system and prepare it to fight coronavirus.
Encouraging interim findings from Pfizer and BioNTech’s mass clinical trial earlier this week raised hopes that the pandemic may soon come to an end.
The UK Government has since bought 40million doses at an estimated cost of £588.4million with ten million hoping to become available before Christmas.
The UK are set to begin the rollout of the vaccine on Tuesday, December 8 with elderly people and NHS staff among the first to receive the vaccine.
The jab is required to be taken in two doses, injected into the arm three apart.
The news is a huge boost to hopes for a safe vaccine to be rolled out across the UK and around the world.
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United Airlines Will Not Stop Service To Africa Moving Ahead With Seasonal Service
From CNN’s Greg Wallace
United says it will not scale back its Africa service due to the new covid variant and is moving ahead with new and seasonal service to the continent.
CNN reported earlier that Delta will continue its service to South Africa, too.
United continues to monitor how the new 212 travel restrictions to Africa may impact demand, and remains committed to maintaining a safe and vital link for essential supplies and personnel to transit between the African continent and the United States as feasible. We dont have any adjustments to our schedule at this time, the airline said in a statement.
Available Vaccines And Vaccination Campaigns
The live, attenuated mumps vaccine used today in the United States was licensed in 1967. It was developed by the prolific vaccine researcher Maurice Hilleman, using mumps virus that he isolated from his daughter, Jeryl Lynn, when she was ill with mumps at age 5. Hillemans mumps vaccine was then used in the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, which was licensed in 1971. The rubella component of the vaccine was changed in 1979, but in the United States the mumps and measles vaccine viruses have remained the same since 1971.
Most industrialized countries, and some developing countries, include mumps-containing vaccine as part of their national immunization program. The World Health Organizations position on mumps immunization is that Routine mumps vaccination is recommended in countries with a well established, effective childhood vaccination programme and the capacity to maintain high-level vaccination coverage with measles and rubella vaccination and where the reduction of mumps incidence is a public health priority. Based on mortality and disease burden, WHO considers measles control and the prevention of congenital rubella syndrome to be higher priorities than the control of mumps. WHO recommends that mumps immunization be accomplished via the MMR vaccine, rather than a single component mumps vaccine.
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Edward Jenner And The History Of Smallpox And Vaccination
Corresponding author:
In science credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea first occurs.
Francis Galton
For many centuries, smallpox devastated mankind. In modern times we do not have to worry about it thanks to the remarkable work of Edward Jenner and later developments from his endeavors. With the rapid pace of vaccine development in recent decades, the historic origins of immunization are often forgotten. Unfortunately, since the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the threat of biological warfare and bioterrorism has reemerged. Smallpox has been identified as a possible agent of bioterrorism . It seems prudent to review the history of a disease known to few people in the 21st century.
Edward Jenner is well known around the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of smallpox . Jenner’s work is widely regarded as the foundation of immunologydespite the fact that he was neither the first to suggest that infection with cowpox conferred specific immunity to smallpox nor the first to attempt cowpox inoculation for this purpose.
Edward Jenner . Photo courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.
The Vaccine Everyone Was Waiting For Polio Vaccine
Parents were scared of the polio epidemics that occurred each summer they kept their children away from swimming pools, sent them to stay with relatives in the country, and clamored for an understanding of the spread of polio. They waited for a vaccine, closely following vaccine trials and sending dimes to the White House to help the cause. When the polio vaccine was licensed in 1955, the country celebrated, and Jonas Salk, its inventor, became an overnight hero.
Late 1950s | Recommended Vaccines
* Given in combination as DTP
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Smallpox: The Origin Of A Disease
The origin of smallpox as a natural disease is lost in prehistory. It is believed to have appeared around 10,000 BC, at the time of the first agricultural settlements in northeastern Africa . It seems plausible that it spread from there to India by means of ancient Egyptian merchants. The earliest evidence of skin lesions resembling those of smallpox is found on faces of mummies from the time of the 18th and 20th Egyptian Dynasties . The mummified head of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses V bears evidence of the disease . At the same time, smallpox has been reported in ancient Asian cultures: smallpox was described as early as 1122 BC in China and is mentioned in ancient Sanskrit texts of India.
Smallpox was introduced to Europe sometime between the fifth and seventh centuries and was frequently epidemic during the Middle Ages. The disease greatly affected the development of Western civilization. The first stages of the decline of the Roman Empire coincided with a large-scale epidemic: the plague of Antonine, which accounted for the deaths of almost 7 million people . The Arab expansion, the Crusades, and the discovery of the West Indies all contributed to the spread of the disease.
Different Types Of Vaccine
Smallpox vaccines produced and successfully used during the intensified eradication program are called first generation vaccines in contrast to smallpox vaccines developed at the end of the eradication phase or thereafter and produced by modern cell culture techniques. Second generation smallpox vaccines use the same smallpox vaccine strains employed for manufacture of first generation vaccines or clonal virus variants plaque purified from traditional vaccine stocks, whereas third generation smallpox vaccines represent more attenuated vaccine strains specifically developed as safer vaccines at the end of the eradication phase by further passage in cell culture or animals. Second and third generation vaccines are produced using modern cell culture techniques and current standards of Good Manufacturing Practices .
The need for WHO to maintain an emergency reserve of smallpox vaccine following eradication was recognized in 1980 when WHO was given a set of formal responsibilities for maintaining capacity and expertise to respond to a re-emergence of smallpox in the post-eradication era as both a component of a preparedness strategy and a possible deterrent to intentional release. The Smallpox Vaccine Emergency Stockpile was originally created by consolidating WHO Member State donations given in support of the Intensified Smallpox Eradication Programme.
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First Authorizations Of Rna Vaccines
In the United States, an Emergency Use Authorization is “a mechanism to facilitate the availability and use of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during public health emergencies, such as the current COVID19 pandemic.” Once an EUA is issued by the FDA, the vaccine developer is expected to continue the Phase III clinical trial to finalize safety and efficacy data, leading to application for licensure in the United States. In mid-2020, concerns that the FDA might grant a vaccine EUA before full evidence from a Phase III clinical trial was available raised broad concerns about the potential for lowered standards in the face of political pressure. On 8 September 2020, nine leading pharmaceutical companies involved in COVID19 vaccine research signed a letter, pledging that they would submit their vaccines for emergency use authorization only after Phase III trials had demonstrated safety and efficacy.
As of December 2020, many countries and the European Union have authorized or approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates granted emergency marketing authorization for BBIBP-CorV, manufactured by Sinopharm. In the United Kingdom, 138,000 people had received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19 vaccine Comirnaty by 16 December, during the first week of the UK vaccination programme. On 18 December 2020, the US FDA granted an EUA for mRNA-1273, the Moderna vaccine. Vaccine manufacturers are awaiting full approvals to name their vaccines.
Jenner And The Discovery Of Vaccination
There was once a television show on science and health that remained on air for almost the full 1980s decade in Spain and, whats more, it achieved another feat: it managed to get many Spaniards to take their health seriously and to look after themselves a little better. While the idea of preventing rather than curing illness came from traditional Chinese medicine, the first person to use science to do so was the English physician Edward Jenner , who in 1796 developed the first vaccine in history. He proved his success with a controversial experiment in which he injected James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy , with pus from a smallpox patient.
At the time, smallpox was ravaging Europe, killing some 400,000 people annually. It preyed mainly on children, but it was no respecter of persons. One in three of those affected died âlike Franceâs King Louis XVâ and many survivors were left blind or scarred âlike George Washington, the first president of the United States âscars left by a host of pus-filled bumps after they dried. But popular lore had it that milkmaids were immune to the disease, as were people who had already suffered from it before. In those days, in which there was widespread fear of being disfigured by smallpox, the smooth flawless faces of unscarred milkmaids turned them into an erotic myth, and they were even the protagonists of popular plays.
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Moderna Says Omicron Represents A Significant Potential Risk To Vaccine And Natural
From CNN’s Virginia Langmaid
Vaccine maker Moderna says the new Omicron variant represents a “significant potential risk” to the efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine as well as immunity reached naturally.
“The recently described Omicron variant includes mutations seen in the Delta variant that are believed to increase transmissibility and mutations seen in the Beta and Delta variants that are believed to promote immune escape,” Moderna said Friday in a news release.
“The combination of mutations represents a significant potential risk to accelerate the waning of natural and vaccine-induced immunity,” the company said.
The company said it is working rapidly to test the ability of its vaccine to neutralize the new variant and data is expected in the coming weeks.
If the current vaccine and the current booster dose of the vaccine are insufficient against the variant, one possible solution is boosting people with a larger dose, which Moderna said it is testing.
The company is also evaluating two multi-valent booster candidates to see if they provide superior protection against Omicron. Both candidates include some of the viral mutations present in the new variant.
Moderna is also evaluating an Omicron-specific booster candidate.
Early Smallpox Vaccine Is Tested
Edward Jenner, an English country doctor from Gloucestershire, administers the worlds first vaccination as a preventive treatment for smallpox, a disease that had killed millions of people over the centuries.
While still a medical student, Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had contracted a disease called cowpox, which caused blistering on cows udders, did not catch smallpox. Unlike smallpox, which caused severe skin eruptions and dangerous fevers in humans, cowpox led to few ill symptoms in these women.
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On May 14, 1796, Jenner took fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an eight-year-old boy. A single blister rose up on the spot, but James soon recovered. On July 1, Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with smallpox matter, and no disease developed. The vaccine was a success. Doctors all over Europe soon adopted Jenners innovative technique, leading to a drastic decline in new sufferers of the devastating disease.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, scientists following Jenners model developed new vaccines to fight numerous deadly diseases, including polio, whooping cough, measles, tetanus, yellow fever, typhus, and hepatitis B and many others. More sophisticated smallpox vaccines were also developed and by 1970 international vaccination programs, such as those undertaken by the World Health Organization, had eliminated smallpox worldwide.
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Vaccine Development Of Louis Pasteur
In the early 1870s Pasteur had already acquired considerable renown and respect in France, and in 1873 he was elected as an associate member of the Académie de Médecine. Nonetheless, the medical establishment was reluctant to accept his germ theory of disease, primarily because it originated from a chemist. However, during the next decade, Pasteur developed the overall principle of vaccination and contributed to the foundation of immunology.
Pasteurs first important discovery in the study of vaccination came in 1879 and concerned a disease called chicken cholera. Pasteur said, Chance only favours the prepared mind, and it was chance observation through which he discovered that cultures of chicken cholera lost their pathogenicity and retained attenuated pathogenic characteristics over the course of many generations. He inoculated chickens with the attenuated form and demonstrated that the chickens were resistant to the fully virulent strain. From then on, Pasteur directed all his experimental work toward the problem of immunization and applied this principle to many other diseases.
Vanity Fair