In Search Of Covid Vaccine

Smallpox is believed to be the first infected disease in the earliest agrarian habitats on our earth. The devastating disease affected all races and regions of the world killing 3 out of every 10 people who were infected. Description of smallpox was reflected in ancient Sanskrit literature (300 BC) and believed to have originated from India or Egypt during 3000 BC. The first vaccine (Smallpox) was discovered in 1798 by English doctor Edward Jenner. However, Louis Pasteur is remembered for his remarkable breakthrough (first laboratory vaccine, 1879) for discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization.

- Kamal Baruah

We all have marks on arm as it’s a result of smallpox vaccination i.e. BCG. The substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases. It is prepared from the causative agent of a disease, and treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease. Children are vulnerable to infectious diseases thereby inoculation is given for newborn baby to produce immunity against an infection yet new disease outbreaks often emerges and goes. It faded by wiping out parts of the population but finally ended as we learned from the timeline of history’s worst pandemics. It is possible through medical care and public health initiatives that halted the further spread of other diseases. The modern human civilization has largely been affected by overseas trading and travel and they are facing such infectious disease as human civilization flourished. The deadliest bacterium caught fatal infection in our recorded history.

Those who survive have immunity during the Plague of Justinian in 541 CE. People have no understanding to fight against pandemic. But they tried to avoid sick people. 800 years later (1347), Black Death claimed 200 million lives in Europe but they overcome by forced isolation to 40 days. The practice of quarantine had actually begun then. The sick people were forcibly shut into their homes during the Great Plague of 1665 to prevent the spread of the disease. The people of Europe, Asia and Arabia were infected by Smallpox virus during 15th century. In 18th century, the pandemic was first ever ended by a vaccine.