As the COVID-19 vaccine continues to roll out in Qatar and around the world, let’s take a quick journey through the history of vaccines. The first recorded use of intentionally infecting someone with a disease in the hopes of inducing immunity dates to 10th-century China, when people inhaled smallpox material—a process called “variolation.”
The first modern vaccine was developed by Edward Jenner in 1796, using cowpox material to create a vaccine for smallpox. The experiment was relatively simple: Jenner took fluid from a woman infected with cowpox, a milder form of smallpox, and rubbed it into two cuts on the arm of eight-year-old James Phipps. (There’s no record of what Phipps thought about all this.) Two weeks later, he inoculated Phipps with smallpox. The boy showed no signs of illness, and the modern vaccine was born.
Jenner’s discovery was no small thing—smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases in history, and even after the vaccine was developed, it killed an estimated 300 million people in the 20th century before finally being eradicated in 1980. In a nod to the importance of Jenner’s work, Louis Pasteur suggested that “vaccine”—which comes from the Latin “vacca,” meaning “cow”—be used to refer to all vaccines, not just smallpox.
Pasteur developed a rabies vaccine in 1885, and it was rapidly followed by vaccines for numerous dreaded diseases, including diphtheria, typhoid and tetanus. In the 20th century, Jonas Salk discovered a polio vaccine in response to a pandemic ravaging children worldwide, and measles, mumps and rubella vaccines also reduced serious childhood illnesses.
So when you do get the COVID-19 vaccine, you’ll be participating in a historical tradition dating back centuries, one that has saved countless lives.
Our collection has numerous volumes on vaccinations; see the full list here. If your child has questions about vaccines, You Wouldn't Want to Live Without Vaccinations!, by Anne Rooney and David Antram, offers a lighthearted, educational look at their importance.
For up-to-date, reliable information on the coronavirus, check out our COVID-19 Subject Guide.
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