The world has made significant achievements in developing vaccines for diseases. So, who was the first person to invent a vaccine?
A vaccine is an antigenic preparation derived from pathogenic microorganisms or microorganisms with antigenic structures similar to those of pathogens. They are formulated to ensure necessary safety, enabling the body to develop immunity against the disease-causing agents.
The discovery of vaccines has helped eradicate many diseases. (Image: TL).
Vaccines contain weakened versions of viruses or virus-like versions (referred to as antigens). These antigens do not cause signs or symptoms of the disease but stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies. These antibodies will protect the body when exposed to the viruses in the future.
Louis Pasteur is recognized worldwide as the father of vaccines due to his famous discoveries concerning bacteria and infections, as well as his development of the rabies vaccine.
However, the first vaccine in the world was developed by Edward Jenner (1749-1823), an honorary physician of the Royal Society in London, England. Edward Jenner demonstrated the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing smallpox for humanity long before the world was aware of the existence of viruses and bacteria. The history of medicine recognizes Edward Jenner’s monumental contributions in establishing the “empire” of vaccines that protect billions of people across the globe.
Dr. Edward Jenner. (Image: Thinglink).
In 1796, Europe was in the midst of a smallpox pandemic. The disease affected all strata of society, including the rich, the poor, commoners, and nobility. At that time, no one had any concept of viruses. The initial symptoms of smallpox included red spots that later developed into blisters all over the body, causing fever and infections, which could lead to blindness and death. The disease spread through respiratory droplets and contact, leading to a rapid increase in cases. Dr. Jenner spent many years studying this disease but could not find a cure.
Jenner accidentally discovered “cowpox,” which is smallpox in cows. The doctor observed something peculiar: those who milked cows after contracting this disease did not get smallpox. Noticing the similar symptoms, he named it “cowpox.” From then on, he pondered: “Is it possible to transmit cowpox to humans to prevent smallpox in people? This way, people would contract a non-lethal disease but be protected from the deadly smallpox.”
Jenner approached a woman who milked cows and was infected with cowpox. This disease frequently appeared in cows, causing their bodies to develop blisters. He took fluid from the cowpox lesions on the woman’s arm and injected it into the arm of an 8-year-old boy named James Phipps from the same village.
Afterward, Phipps exhibited symptoms of cowpox. Forty-eight days later, Phipps fully recovered from cowpox, and Jenner then injected him with the smallpox virus. Observations revealed a strange phenomenon: Phipps did not contract smallpox.
Based on 12 similar experiments and 16 additional case histories he collected since the 1770s, Jenner published a classic text in the history of medicine titled “An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of Variola Vaccine.” The process of taking pathogens from infected animals, weakening the virus, and then injecting it into humans via blood was termed vaccination by Jenner.
Edward Jenner reported his findings to the Royal Society. The Royal Society carefully reviewed his reports. Subsequently, British medical institutions accepted the new vaccination method and allowed it to be widely disseminated. By 1840, the British government made cowpox vaccinations completely free and prohibited the previously practiced variolation method. The cowpox vaccination method then spread throughout Europe and even to North America.
According to him, when weakened bacteria are injected into a person, the body will spontaneously generate a factor that fights against that disease. Therefore, those who have been vaccinated would no longer contract smallpox. He not only applied this method to James Phipps but also to his own son. He asserted that cowpox protects humans from smallpox infection and laid the foundation for modern vaccines.
Jenner’s greatest success was conquering smallpox. In 1802, he was elected President of the International Committee for Smallpox Prevention. The doctor received valuable awards from Queen of England, the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of France, and the President of the United States for his significant contributions to humanity. Later, Jenner was invited to work at the French Academy of Sciences. In countries like England, France, and Italy, statues were erected in his honor and gratitude.
Painting of Edward Jenner vaccinating James Phipps.
On January 16, 1823, due to a cerebrovascular accident, Jenner took his last breath. The British government requested to bury his remains in Westminster Abbey, the resting place of the distinguished sons of England and humanity. He is referred to as the “immortal physician of humanity” and “the father of vaccines.”
In the latter half of the 19th century, the scientific world achieved remarkable advancements. Notably, the field of experimental immunology helped study the processes that occur in the body after vaccination.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) – the renowned French scientist, chemist, and microbiologist, who founded the fields of microbiology and immunology, concluded that vaccination methods could be applied to treat other infectious diseases. Based on the cholera model in chickens, he experimentally concluded that a new disease would help prevent the next disease. Pasteur defined the absence of recurrent infectious disease post-vaccination as “immunity.”
In 1881, Louis Pasteur discovered the vaccine for anthrax. Subsequently, the rabies vaccine was researched and developed. In 1885, the first rabies prevention station was established in Paris. The second station was founded by Ilya Mechnikov in Russia. Nikolai Gamaleya, a student of Louis Pasteur, collaborated with him in research and development. From the time of the Soviet Union, Gamaleya became the most distinguished microbiologist and the head of the Moscow Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.
In 1886, a “Pasteur Station” appeared in Odessa. This station became the first bacteriology research center in Russia. Shortly after, rabies prevention stations named after Pasteur were established in other cities across Russia.
This success helped scientist Louis Pasteur avoid a wave of criticism regarding his preventive methods. In 1888, a special institute for rabies and other infectious diseases was established in the capital city of Paris, later named the Pasteur Institute.
Other scientists’ discoveries, such as Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov (Russia) and Paul Ehrlich (Germany), contributed to researching the nature of individual immunity against infectious diseases. They created a unified theory of immunity and were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908.
In 1892, Vladimir Khavkin (a student of Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov) created the first cholera vaccine, which he tested on himself. In 1893, with assistance from England, Vladimir Khavkin launched a mass vaccination program against cholera in India, where the disease was rampant at that time.
When the plague pandemic began to spread in India, one of the latest diseases in human history, Khavkin developed a vaccine against this illness. Consequently, his name was given to the Central Institute of Immunology in Mumbai.
Khavkin’s vaccine saved many lives in India, but its efficacy was still unknown. Another Russian scientist, Magdalena Pokrovskaya, developed a plague vaccine using live viruses.
During the Russian Civil War, this female scientist investigated outbreaks of plague and malaria in the southeastern region of Russia. In 1934, an active vaccine was created. During the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union, Magdalena Pokrovskaya developed a technology for treating severe infectious diseases using bacteria, a special virus that destroys bacteria.
Vaccines enhance the body’s resistance to diseases. When vaccinated, the body’s immune system recognizes the vaccine as a foreign substance, destroys it, and remembers it, thus creating immune memory. Later, when the actual disease agent invades the body, the immune system will rapidly and effectively attack the pathogen to protect the body from that disease.
Vaccination is the most effective disease prevention method to reduce the incidence and mortality rates of infectious diseases worldwide. Approximately 85% to 95% of vaccinated individuals will develop specific immunity that protects their bodies from illness. Thanks to vaccines, around 2.5 million children are saved from dying due to infectious diseases each year globally. Vaccination plays a crucial role in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals of reducing mortality rates for children under five years old worldwide.
