The Invention of Vaccine Greatly Reduced the Burden of Infection Diseases

It is often stated that vaccination has made the greatest contribution to global health since the introduction of clean water and sanitation .In fact, study of the pattern of infectious diseases in industrialized countries, from the end of the twentieth century, shows that there was a large and progressive decline in child mortality, owing largely to a reduction in mortality from infectious diseases, after the discovery and development of vaccines.  Vaccination is considerate as one of the greatest achievement in medicine history. It helps debilitating illness and disability, and saves millions of lives every year. The history of vaccine started with the spread of Smallpox witch was the first infectious disease treated by vaccination. Since this discovery, vaccines have changed the landscape of modern medicine.

Since its introduction in the 18th century, vaccines greatly reduced the burden of infection diseases with providing protection against many life-threatening sicknesses. Through injecting passive microorganisms such as bacteria or viruses, vaccine stimulate a desirable immune response without inducing sickness. Before this discovery, the only way to become immune to a disease was by catching the infection .This is identified as naturally acquired immunity. It is a risky process and can be even lethal. However, with the vaccine, diseases can be prevented. This new medical technique has helped decrease illnesses around the world and has led to the eradication of certain diseases such as smallpox which had an overall mortality rate of 35% and caused blindness in 65% of cases. Thus, vaccination had made an enormous contribution to the global health and helped save millions of lives by protecting current and future generations.

The success of vaccination was attributed to the remarkable work and the devotion of many scientist's. In fact, the development of this technique involved medical experts from around the world. Edward Jenner's work, represented the first scientific attempt to control an infectious disease by the deliberate use of vaccination. The success of his discovery soon spread around Europe and was used in the Balmis expedition in 1803. This expedition, was a three-year mission with the aim of vaccinating Spanish orphans against smallpox. This attempt was a noble endeavor and an extraordinary success. During the next decades, Jenner’s method grew more popular and became widespread throughout the world providing protection against the smallpox infection. In 1880, a French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur pursued on Jenner’s research and discovered the vaccine for chicken cholera accidently by exposing a chicken to an old culture of a bacteria. The survival of this chicken made Pasteur realize that the injection of a weak bacteria results in an immunization it and used the same method to produce other vaccines.  While Jenner and Pasteur were the two main pioneers of vaccination in their early days, by the 1920s many more vaccines had been developed and become widely available, including diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

With the rapid pace of vaccine development in recent decades, Vaccination has become the most effective mean to fight and eradicate infectious diseases. Indeed, this medical technique has contributed to the annihilation of smallpox, one of the most contagious and deadly diseases for humans. Other infections such as rubella, polio, measles, mumps, chickenpox, and typhoid are nowhere near as common as they were a hundred years ago. For example in 1958, there were 763,094 cases of measles in the United States. After the introduction of new vaccines, the number of cases dropped exponentially to fewer than 86 per year. Without vaccination, this number would have increased, infections that are almost unknown would stage a comeback and, potentially, cause diseases spreading around the globe. In fact, a decrease in vaccination rates, could reawaken some of the world's deadliest diseases such as Polio which causes paralysis and severe brain damage. Therefore, Vaccines provides a sustainable solution to protect mankind against future pandemics by stopping the spread of many deadly diseases.