History and pathology of vaccination

Abstract

The practice of inoculating people with smallpox was introduced in Great Britain and Ireland in the early 18th century, and was widely adopted in the country as a means of protecting against the disease. The practice, however, was not without its risks, and there were numerous reports of deaths and other complications following variolation. This, together with the spreading of smallpox by the inoculators, led to a decline in the use of variolation by the mid-18th century, and by the end of the century, a new method of preventing smallpox, vaccination, was introduced. The author argues that the origins of vaccination are to be found in the folk-lore beliefs of dairymaids, rather than in the scientific research of Edward Jenner, and goes on to discuss the subsequent introduction of vaccination in several other countries, as well as its reception within the medical profession. The author concludes by pointing out the numerous fallacies in the arguments of those who advocate for the vaccination of humans with lymph derived from infected animals, and the many reported cases of smallpox occurring after vaccination. – AI-generated abstract