This is not the first time the world is racing to find a vaccine for a dreaded disease. Some very serious illnesses have threatened humanity in the past with scientists around the world spending their entire lives trying to find a solution. Fortunately, most of these diseases now have much-needed vaccines. But the journey to finding a vaccine has always been an uphill task. Some of the diseases which have been clamped down by vaccines are Measles, SARS, Small Pox, H1N1 etc.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) resulted in an estimated 10.4 million new cases in 2016 and 1.7 million deaths. The history of the BCG vaccine revolves around the tale of two French scientists, Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin who from 1905 had been working on developing a vaccine against TB. BCG is an abbreviation of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin, meaning the bacilli of Calmette and Guerin.The vaccine was first used in humans in the year 1921.It was given to a child (whose mother died of tuberculosis just after the baby was born) in Paris by Dr Weil-Hale. The baby was given 6 mg. of BCG orally, and grew up to be a perfectly normal boy. During the next three years (up to July 1924) a further 317 infants were also vaccinated and grew up to be perfectly fine. Hepatitis B
The hepatitis B virus was discovered by Dr. Baruch Blumberg, 1965, who won the Nobel Prize for his discovery. Originally, the virus was called the "Australia Antigen". The FDA, in the year 1981, approved a plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine for human use. Merck Pharmaceuticals manufactured this plasma vaccine and names it "Heptavax". It was the first commercial hepatitis B virus vaccine. However, the use of this vaccine was discontinued in 1990 and is no longer available. The newly approved vaccines are synthetically prepared and do not contain blood products. Measles
During the measles outbreak in 1954, John F. Enders and Dr. Thomas C. Peebles collected blood samples from a few ill students in Boston, Massachusetts. They wanted to isolate the measles virus in the students' blood and create a vaccine for it. They successfully isolated measles in 13-year-old David Edmonston's blood. And then, in 1968, an improved and an even weaker measles vaccine was developed (by Maurice Hilleman and colleagues) and began to be distributed. This vaccine called the Edmonston-Enders (formerly "Moraten") strain has been the measles vaccine used in the United States since 1968. Mumps
Mumps, also known as infectious parotitis, is an infection caused by a virus and spread human-to-human via direct contact or by airborne droplets.Mumps generally affects children between five and nine years old. But it can infect adults as well with some possible complications.The effective and safe vaccines against mumps have been available since the 1960s. The vaccine is most often incorporated into national immunization programmes in a combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. In countries where large-scale immunization against mumps has been implemented, the incidence of the disease has dropped dramatically.WHO recommends integrating strategies to control mumps with existing high priority goals of measles and rubella control or elimination. Once the decision has been made to include the mumps vaccine, the use of the combined MMR vaccine is strongly encouraged. Small Pox
Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases known to humans. Its vaccine was introduced by Edward Jenner in 1796. It was the first successful vaccine to be developed. As per him, the idea for developing a vaccine came to him when he observed that people who had previously contracted cowpox did not catch smallpox and showed that inoculated vaccinia protected against inoculated variola virus. Swine flu or H1N1 virus
The first few cases of a new type of Flu emerged in March in the US in 2009. This was the start of what was later termed as H1N1 virus. In a few months, the WHO declared it a pandemic and work started on manufacture of vaccines. By October 2009, some vaccines were out in the market although people were wary of using them due to possible safety issues.The vaccine has a strong protective immune response and has a similar safety profile to the usual seasonal influenza vaccine. Typhoid
Typhoid fever is an infection caused by Salmonella Typhi, usually through intake of contaminated food or water. The symptoms of this acute illness include prolonged fever, headache, nausea, loss of appetite, and constipation or sometimes diarrhoea.The first effective vaccine for the disease was developed by Almroth Edward Wright and was introduced for military use in 1896.Soldiers at the war front were more likely to get killed by typhoid if not the combat. The vaccine displayed significant results in the soldiers. The vaccine was further developed in London in the following years.