Attempts to prevent illness and disease – WJECLate 19th century to today

Even after it was shown that the vaccine reduced the number of smallpox deaths, the use of vaccination was still controversial. In Newport, some parents were prosecuted for refusing to have their children vaccinated.

Even some members of the medical profession were not convinced of the value of vaccination. In a conference in Cardiff as late as 1869, a Dr Haviland objected to the compulsory vaccination of children in the Cardiff area, arguing that the case for vaccination was unproven.

Even Edward Jenner could not explain why vaccination worked. He did not have the powerful microscope that would have let him examine the smallpox virus. We now know that cowpox worked because the virus was almost the same as the smallpox virus.

However, Jenner deserves to be remembered as the first to immunise against disease. His work was based on careful observation and experiment, and developed the idea that a mild form of a disease gives immunity.

In spite of Jenner’s breakthrough, until the mid 19th century most people continued to believe that miasma caused smallpox, so attempts to prevent disease were still hampered. In France, however, the scientist Louis Pasteur, an admirer of Jenner, was convinced that vaccination could be used to prevent other diseases.

Today, vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases. Widespread immunity due to vaccination was largely responsible for the worldwide eradication of smallpox by 1980, and the elimination of diseases such as polio, measles, and tetanus from much of the world.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that vaccines are currently available for 25 different preventable infections and has campaigns of immunisation operating across the globe.