Where do vaccines come from?
Hear Dr David Llewellyn talk more about the history and future of vaccines on our Where would we be without research? podcast. Make sure you subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss a single episode.
Over the last two years vaccines have been a huge part of our daily dialogue, and since their release in December 2020, over 2.4 million people have visited mass vaccination centres and GP surgeries right across Wales to become protected against COVID-19.
But vaccines have been around a lot longer than that.
A world without vaccines
Vaccines have existed for around 220 years, but before their creation we didn’t have much to rely on in battling infectious diseases. People were dying from illnesses we no longer have to worry about, such as polio or diphtheria.
Dr David Llewellyn, who has studied the history of vaccines from the late 1700s to the present day, said: “if we didn’t have the research that has been done on the immune system and vaccines, we wouldn’t be in the position we are in combatting a global pandemic.”
Starting with smallpox
Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases of the 1700s and into the 20th Century. With no effective treatment and with the illness killing almost 60 million people worldwide, the outlook was bleak.
A key breakthrough came in 1796 when an early research study, by Dr Edward Jenner, showed inserting pus, which was taken from a cow infected with cowpox, into a small cut on the arm would provide immunity against smallpox.
David, who currently works as the Integrated Wellbeing Networks Lead at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, continued: “When Jenner published the results of his research, he was considered a bit of a maverick but by the early 1800s there were already lots of people across the UK who wanted their children and family members to be vaccinated. As little as five years after Jenner’s first vaccinations, it was already becoming quite well established.”
In 1980, the World Health Organisation announced smallpox had been wiped-out thanks to vaccines.
The future of vaccines
We’ve come a long way since 1796. Our extensive knowledge of vaccines, funding and the population size available have meant vaccines, like those for COVID-19, are being made significantly quicker and are more effective.
David said: “Vaccines have been a big part of our armoury in combatting infectious diseases, like flu and COVID-19, and they were responsible for eradicating other diseases as well.
“I think the future will hold things that people won’t have expected, like using vaccines against tumours. We’ve changed gears with vaccines over the last couple of years, it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens.”