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The Pros And Cons Of Smallpox Inoculation

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Smallpox inoculation was an early method of preventing smallpox by giving a patient a minor case of it, which then gave them immunity for the rest of their life. Giving a patient a minor case of smallpox was done by taking a small amount of matter from the pustules of a patient infected with smallpox and putting it into their skin. Inoculation was an earlier, less safe treatment that started before vaccination became common practice. It had pros and cons, and many people at the time were against it while others were not. Pros of inoculation include the possibility of being immune to the disease and the reduced risk of death. If a patient did not die from the inoculation, then they would get immunity for the rest of their life, which was the ideal outcome. Inoculation had a reduced risk of death compared to if people caught smallpox naturally. The chances of dying from inoculation were about one out of fifty, or about a two percent chance (Powerpoint Presentation). Without getting inoculation, the chances of dying were estimated to be about one out of seven or eight, or about a twelve to …show more content…

The chances of death from inoculation were much lower than if people caught it naturally; however, people opposed inoculation, since it still wasn’t fully safe. Inoculation posed ethical problems to many people at the time because there was a chance that someone who got inoculated and died may never have caught smallpox naturally if they had been left alone. People who got inoculated could also still spread the disease naturally, so by intentionally giving people the disease, others who did not get inoculated had a higher chance of getting smallpox. This also posed ethical unease, as they were increasing the chance that people who did not feel comfortable being inoculated would die from catching the disease from those who were getting

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Some Vaccines were ineffective, Bollet wrote “in civilian life, children were first vaccinated with material taken directly from a lesion on the udder of a cow or a calf infected with cowpox, which was caused by a virus similar enough to smallpox to confer immunity” though this proved effective army soldiers would vaccinate each other but because they did not sterilize and used antiseptic methods this method would often be fatal due to blood poisoning. However, the knowledge the physicians gain from this experience helps to shape how patients are vaccinated

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At times the mortality rate was not less than one-sixth of the birth rate. Modern medicine had developed significantly since this time, but during this period, the only way people believed this disease could be prevented was through inoculation. Before the discovery of the vaccine, people would infect themselves and their children with the smallpox virus in the hopes to become immune to it. The process included using a “lancet wet with fresh matter taken from a ripe pustule of some person who suffered from smallpox… and then subcutaneously introduced on the arms or legs of the nonimmune person.”

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But the indigenous population fared much worse. Nearly 90% would be eradicated by smallpox. A result of having no immunity to the newly introduced virus.

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Within 2 days from exposure smallpox vaccine could prevent or reduce the severity in the huge number of colonists. Inoculation treatment was mostly supportive between the days of exposure which provided some protection to modify the disease’s spread in that period. As well, the inoculation method helped wound care, infection control and therapy from burning skin. Smallpox took the colonists into mode of the death due to loss of fluids, poor immune reaction and infection in multiple organs of human body. Besides, smallpox disease developed into other complications even after the inoculation, such as stubby fingers, limiting joint movements etc.

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Luckily, there is a vaccine to prevent it. Although the vaccine may have some side effects causing harm to the body, it is the only way to prevent smallpox.

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The scientist behind the smallpox vaccine was named Edward Jenner. This vaccine was introduced in 1796 and it was the first successful vaccine to be developed. Edward observed that milkmaids who previously had caught cowpox did not catch smallpox and showed that inoculated vaccinia protected against inoculated variola virus. This information plus tons

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Less than 1 in a hundred thousand child will suffer from serious adverse effects of vaccination, which is several times higher than the risk of being struck by lightning. The number of reported events of adverse reaction are very low, thus the concerns of vaccine causing irreparable damage is almost unfounded. Besides that, the risk of getting infected by a vaccine-preventable disease is higher than the risk of being saddled with adverse reactions from the vaccine itself. For example, CDC claims that more than 260,000 individuals are hospitalized due influenza annually, with deaths ranging from 3,000 to 46,000 individuals. Besides that, 800,000 to 1.4 million people suffer from chronic hepatitis B, with complications such as liver cancer.

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Once the child recovered from the cowpox disease, Jenner then tried to infect the child with smallpox, but the young man proved to be immune. “It seemed that this attempt at vaccination had worked. But Jenner had to work on for two more years before his discovery was considered sufficiently tested by the medical profession to permit widespread introduction.” (Alexander, 2003). Beginning in 1831 and ending in 1835, due to increasing vaccination, smallpox deaths were down to one in a thousand.

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