When the mystery of serendipity delivered the secrets of vaccination to Edward Jenner as he observed milk maid’s immunity to small pox, little did he know that the open doors of science had offered this same gift in the Far East where variolation was already being practiced.
Since it was successfully added to western medical repertoire in 1796, vaccination has really set the course of human history in the right direction. One could easily argue that it has increased life expectancy and kept many terrifying infectious diseases safely at bay. It would take herculean effort to quantify the gains that vaccines have delivered to several generations of humans if we count numerous epidemics and pandemics that have been averted since we mastered this bit of nature.
The science behind the mechanism of vaccination is not a complex one that evades simple understanding. The human body has wonderfully evolved to protect itself from diseases by multiple actions which includes signal sending that stimulates other parts of the immune response to recognize and attack virulent pathogens in the future. Often, this is too late. Vaccination aims to stimulate the immune system with safe biological materials representing a virulent pathogen so that the body can promptly contain an infection at a future time if it is invaded by microbes before they cause disease.
While for most citizens of developed nations, their most precious documents might be their passports, for citizens in the global south, their most precious documents seems to be their vaccination cards where the reality of contracting an infectious disease is just one neighbor away. They will clutch tightly to their vaccination cards and let go of their passports if it will guarantee their well-being.
It goes without saying that the high quality of human life in Europe and in other developed societies can be attributed to several successful vaccination campaigns which followed the painful lessons of the black plague and Spanish flu which taught us all a great but painful lesson. Science does not demand respect but deserves it.
According to records prudently kept, it has been declared that vaccination transcends individual benefits to national economic benefits-less students and workers miss work due to illnesses. GAVI is doing a lot of work to bring people to understand these simple concepts. It is not surprising that countries with a wide vaccination coverage also excel flawlessly in their GDP due to the number of sick days that are averted for students and adult citizens . I permit myself to say that members of these societies might also live happier lives since sickness never brings joy.
Right now, you might owe some gratitude to being able to read this article and engage in other activities healthily due to vaccinations you received as a child and which have primed and fortified your immune system against persistent invading microbes who can’t wait to seize the opportunity to cause mayhem. We should be grateful that we have the power of vaccines in our hands.
When Edward Jenner stumbled upon the concept of innoculation in 1796, he had no idea that it would become a recommended practice for the billions of humans and animals, by yet to be formed health governing agencies like the World Health Organization. But like every scientist, he was only trying to fit the puzzles that chance regularly throws at us together; and that we are always eager to gnaw at. Today, many humans and animals are in good health because he followed his curiosity like a fish dreams of worms.
Because vaccines are a beautiful and irreplaceable gift of science and are meant to be shared generously; and since this is possible, it remains mind boggling why this isn’t it happening everywhere. It might be out-rightly impossible to pinpoint when the first vaccination took place but I hope that we never have to record the last vaccination. At least, not until we discover something equally irreplaceable.