Vaccines have come a long way from the barbaric variolation treatments for smallpox in the 15th century CE in China. Treatment for smallpox remained the same until Edward Jenner developed the first vaccination for smallpox in 1796. Nations began issuing laws to force people into vaccinations. England began the first vaccination act in 1840 and the United States court rulings date back to the 1900s when compulsory vaccination for smallpox outweighed the individual right to privacy. This common good approach drew vociferous protests and the anti-vaccination movement emerged (Stern & Markel, 2005).
Today, with the advances in virology and technology, vaccines are, for the most part—safe. Smallpox has been all but eradicated in the world
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Technology improvements in the vaccine production lead to higher quality and safety (Stern and Markel 2005; 61 2) [3]. Overall, at least 26 diseases can be prevented, or their incidence reduced, by vaccination
Gone, it appears, are the days of sending a healthy child to play with a child afflicted with chickenpox. Variolation, known as inoculation with variolous matter, was the method of treatment for smallpox as early as the 10th century CE in China. Advances in treatment remained the same for over 700 years until Edward Jenner developed the first vaccination for smallpox.
Edward Jenner was a country doctor living in England in the last 1700s. Jenner used his knowledge of observation to develop the first smallpox vaccine through rudimentary testing of cowpox lesions on the hands of milkmaids. Realizing that milkmaids afflicted with cowpox had a natural immunity to smallpox, Jenner experimented with the transfer of cowpox pus to a healthy child through inoculation. Subsequent smallpox variolation to these test subject resulted in an immunity to smallpox. Thus, the first successful clinical vaccine trial alternative to variolation was published. In his book Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine, Jenner described the experiment, testing and results that would become the foundation for modern vaccinology