Miracle CURES

As the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine reaches a climax, Gareth Williams explores four previous attempts to rid the world of lethal diseases, from Edward Jenner’s “delightful” war on smallpox to the rancorous battle to consign polio to the past

- Gareth Williams

Vaccines are back in the news, as a bridge that will hopefully lead us safely over the troubled waters of the Covid-19 pandemic. More than a hundred Covid-19 vaccines are in development worldwide, and three may be ready for use in millions of people early in 2021. This is astonishing progress, given that Covid-19 was unknown a year ago, but it doesn’t guarantee success. History has shown that promising vaccines can fail to perform in real life; as with HIV, we may still be waiting for a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine a decade from now.

Unsurprisingly, vaccines only work if people take them. At present, up to one-third of Britons may choose not to be vaccinated against Covid-19 – possibly enough to prevent us from achieving ‘herd’ immunity. Meanwhile, the race continues for a prize worth billions of dollars and incalculable propaganda value. It’s already a dirty fight, with Russian media claiming that the University of Oxford’s vaccine (which uses a harmless chimpanzee virus as a delivery capsule) will turn those vaccinated into monkeys.

Getting to the point

The history of vaccination began formally in 1798 when Edward Jenner showed that inoculating healthy subjects with cowpox, a mild disease of cattle, protected them against smallpox. This was momentous news, as smallpox was one of humanity’s greatest scourges, killing one person in 12 worldwide and all but wiping out the Incas and Aztecs. Others had already experimented with ‘composing, but Jenner was the first to report the process and introduce it into medical practice.