Vaccines appeared in recent human history, but forms of vaccination have been around since ancient times. Thanks to vaccines, some diseases were eradicated, but it was a long way to reach today’s immunization system.
Of course, since ancient times there have been people who opposed vaccination. However, they then had good reason to believe these things, given the high mortality often associated with the method of administration.
However, scientists continued to refine the immunization method because they found that the benefits outweighed the losses.
The “primitive” method of vaccination from antiquity. Romanian researcher at Oxford: “It was a risk taken”
Dr. Ștefan Dascălu, researcher in immunology at Oxford University in Great Britain, explained in an interview for Newsweek Romania since when we actually get vaccinated, what they were and how these vaccines were administered.
“The science of vaccinology appeared practically with the researches of Edward Jenner at the end of the 18th century. He discovered that immunization against the smallpox virus (they didn’t know it was a virus at the time) could be done with the vaccinia virus, which caused a form of smallpox-like disease in farm animals, but much milder.
Jenner observed that those who cared for these animals and were exposed to the infection developed a much milder form of “smallpox” (in fact, the infection being the vaccinia virus) and remained immune to subsequent smallpox infections.
But the practice of immunization dates back to ancient times. Smallpox, fortunately for us, was eradicated thanks to vaccines”, explained Dr. Ștefan Dascălu.
Anti-Covid vaccine – Photo: Freepik.com – illustrative role
Newsweek Romania: How was the vaccine administered in antiquity?
Dr. Ștefan Dascălu, Romanian researcher at Oxford: “There is also evidence from Ancient Egypt that immunization (then called “smallpox”) existed as a practice for disease prevention. In this primitive form of vaccination, basically infectious material was taken from a sick person, and through an incision, through a cut in the skin, that infectious material was administered.
The mortality in such a practice was very high, but not so high as in the disease itself.
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In the case of smallpox, respiratory infection was much more dangerous, and this artificial infection in cutaneous form practically offered a much greater chance of survival.
In addition to the risk of death from the disease, there is also the risk of bacterial infection of the wound where the smallpox was performed.
Sure, people took the risk and there have been numerous instances in history where such practices were done at the community level.
However, obviously in such a situation already a person can ask himself the question “why should I get this vaccine if I have such a high chance of dying anyway?”. Fortunately, the practice of vaccination, with Jenner, through the related virus “vaccinia” against the smallpox virus, managed to considerably decrease this mortality rate.
In the 9th century, medical practice was primitive compared to what we have today. We think that then, for a simple headache the doctor could recommend an incision in the cranial box to release the intracranial pressure.
These were truly barbaric practices by today’s standards, and precisely because of this the death rate was extremely high. Even then, for example, the risk of infection with the administration of the “vaccinia” vaccine, from which the name of the vaccination derives, also had to be done through an incision, and since the instruments were not sterilized, they often caused bacterial infections that could lead to death” .
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Dr. Ștefan Dascălu at the time of awarding an important prize for social impact from Oxford University and the National Biosciences Research Council of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UKRI – BBSRC) Photo: Facebook/Ștefan Dascălu
Newsweek Romania: When did the vaccination technique actually start to be safe?
Dr. Ștefan Dascălu, Romanian researcher at Oxford: “Until the medical technique of vaccination became a safe practice, tested and rigorously monitored for side effects, almost 200 years passed.
Even in the 1950s vaccination was still an empirical science, clinical trials were not yet conducted as they are today, there was not yet the same close monitoring for safety and efficacy that exists today.
So, fortunately for us, today we have access to this technology that has been perfected over the centuries and we can use it to prevent some forms of disease that once upon a time could have killed us. From this perspective, vaccination has had this rather murky history, from the beginnings of modern civilization to the 18th century, with Edward Jenner.
Currently, through vaccination, we have managed to prevent many deaths and serious illnesses in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. We think that polio, for example, has been almost eradicated.
Unfortunately, there are new cases of polio in the world precisely because vaccination programs have been stopped for various reasons, such as armed conflicts or because of the COVID-19 pandemic because people no longer had access to these vaccines. Poliomyelitis is a horrifying disease that thanks to the vaccine we don’t see it often in everyday life today.
Through the development of medical technology we were able to take these medical principles developed throughout history, which even if they were mostly correct, did not have a correct way of application.
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Anti-vaccinationists have been around since those days, but then they had every right to express their concerns about vaccine safety. Today, however, it is much more difficult to do this because technology and medical practice have evolved tremendously.”
Dr. Ștefan Dascălu is a researcher in immunology at Oxford University in Great Britain. His main research interests focus on pathogen-host interactions, autoimmune diseases and the development of pathological processes in animals and humans.
He is also involved in several activities aimed at promoting science and scientific understanding in Romania.
2023-12-07 09:04:01
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