Smallpox Vaccine Analysis

Hindering a problem is easier than solving a problem. In other words, the best way to find a solution to an issue is to create a way where that issue would not be able to exist in the first place. With disease being a major obstacle for all life here on Earth, it was imperative for scientists to find a procedure that would eradicate it at its root. For as long as human have existed, microscopic organisms have dominated their well-being. These microorganisms consist of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses and their function is nothing besides to cause total havoc. For centuries, people all over the world have faced epidemics that would poison entire villages and even cities. For example, the bubonic plague, also known as “The Black Death”,

At the end of the 18th century, all that had changed with one breakthrough discovery. In 1798, a medical scientist by the name of Edward Jenner introduced the first successful vaccine. This vaccine was developed in order to fight the war against the Smallpox disease. His innovation consisted of cowpox material, a disease closely related to smallpox, that would create immunity to smallpox. When injected into the human body, T-lymphocytes and antibodies were produced in order to fight off the cowpox material. Thus, if smallpox were to be introduced into the body, the immune system would already have a defense mechanism that has the ability to destroy the disease. Fast-forward two hundred years and an incredible advancement in technology, this vaccine resulted in the elimination of smallpox.

With its capability to prevent disease, the vaccination process has become the norm. “During the past 50 years, immunization has saved more than a billion lives and prevented countless illnesses and disabilities in the United States” (Importance). Without the invention of the vaccine, the quality of life that we have today would only be dreamed of. Overall, you would think that people would want to be vaccinated. Well, that is not always the

Recently, there have been many reports of children being vaccinated, and later on, they begin to develop these disabilities. This has created a scare within the American society, and parents are starting to speculate that vaccines contribute more harm than help. Like I stated before, “...the negative statements transform into rumors…causing a false conclusion on the topic of vaccines” (Walny). People do not perform their own investigation on the vaccination process, therefore, they must believe in everything they hear. For the individuals that do their studying, they know that vaccines prevent disease, not cause disease. The public does not understand that vaccines have been in commission for a couple hundred years, so why would they all the sudden cause these childhood disabilities now? Maybe society should stop directing their attention to vaccines and instead to the chemicals in the food/drink that their children may be digesting or the pollutants in the air where they