Edward Jenner was the first ever to give inoculation to people/ invent the vaccine - Research Paper Example

Moreover, it left thousands more permanently paralyzed as a stark reminder of its uncontrollable wrath. Furthermore, in 1918, the influenza epidemic can only be compared to a global holocaust as it claimed the lives of over 25 million people.1 However, none of this compared to the plague that decimated almost half of the total population of Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.2 Fast forward into the eighteenth century, small pox emerged as the number one threat to human life globally.

Statistical data by Kendall in England estimate that almost 45,000 lives were lost yearly in England alone.3 This disease was no respecter of persons as it even claimed the life of Benjamin Franklin’s son following a 1750’s outbreak in America.4 The never ending misery caused by these infectious diseases was ultimately put to an end by one of the greatest inventions pertaining to human health. This was the development of the vaccine. This one invention would not only prove as a measure in eradication of infectious disease such as small pox and polio, but also offer the much needed prevention against future infections.

Behind the marvel innovation of vaccines were prominent people such as Edward Jenner, Louis Pasteur, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, John Fewster, Benjamin Jesty among many more. 5However, among the few mentioned innovators, Edward Jenner was labeled in history annals as the father of immunology or inventor of vaccination. This global recognition was due to his development of the small pox vaccine and his published works on the same. However, historical and contemporary debates have attempted to dispute the title coveted to Edward Jenner.

The controversy of the issue revolved around past historical evidence from contemporaries such as Lady Mary Wortley Monatagu, Benjamin Jesty and John Fewster.6 To this effect, the critics have advanced various theories aimed at discrediting Edward Jenner as the inventor of the vaccine. Foremost, they claimed that earlier development of the vaccine existed.7 Secondly, that Jenner simply developed an attenuated smallpox virus vaccine and used a safe type of smallpox inoculation.8 Other critics claimed that there were pioneer individuals who did a majority of the research that led to development of the vaccine.

9 To this end, the critics have attempted to cast aspersion on Edward Jenner as the first inventor and administrator of the first vaccine.10 However, an overall majority of historical pundits contend that Edward Jenner was indeed the inventor of the vaccine and the first person to give an inoculation. Consequently, the subsequent sections will elaborately delve into the history of Edward Jenner, background information on the small pox and some of the historical personalities that made notable contributions.

It is the advance by some of the past innovators that critics have sought to discredit Jenner.. Furthermore, Jenner’s advancement in developing a vaccine will be elaborated. To this end, a comprehensive discussion defending Edward Jenner as the inventor of the vaccine in relation to other contributors will suffice. Edward Jenner On May 17, 1749, Edward Jenner was conceived in Berkley, Gloucestshire. He was the son of the vicar of Berkley, Rev. Stephen Jenner.11 However, at the tender age of 5 years, he was orphaned and moved in with his elder brother.

It was in his early years at school that Jenner acquired an innate interest in nature and sciences. Consequently, at the age of 14, Jenner was apprenticed to a