The smallpox vaccination used calf lymph, which was unacceptable to vegetarians and anti-vivisectionists who were growing in number from the mid 19th century.
Emergency hospital during influenza epidemic at Camp Funston in Kansas around 1918.
National Museum of Health and Medicine
A century ago, the influenza pandemic killed about 50 million people. Today we are battling the coronavirus pandemic. Are we any better off? Two social scientists share five reasons we have to be optimistic.
Is the U.S. trying to jump the queue to get vaccines first?
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To find a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, scientists need to work hands-on with the highly infectious coronavirus. It happens in a super secure lab designed to keep them safe and prevent any escapes.
Without a vaccine, getting to herd immunity would mean many more illnesses and deaths.
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If your immunisation record is incomplete, you might repeat a vaccination unnecessarily, or miss out on government support, child care, or work. So it pays to check.
A Thai technician at the Chula Vaccine Research Center in Bangkok, Thailand, May 25, 2020.
Diego Azubel/EPA
A unique challenge is emerging in the search for a COVID-19 vaccine: how to balance intellectual property rights with serving the public good.
View of blood collection tubes in a rack on the first day of a free COVID-19 antibody testing event at the Volusia County Fairgrounds, in DeLand, Florida.
Paul Hennessy / Echoes WIre/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
A potential vaccine for coronavirus is undergoing a human trial in Australia. It’s based on a vaccine that was already in development for influenza, and has shown promise in animal studies.
Disc golf can be played outdoors and at a distance.
Anya Semenoff/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Results from phase 1 trials of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine created a burst of optimism. But details the company failed to release suggest it is too early to speculate whether the vaccine is effective.
Dean Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of Vaccinology at University of the Witwatersrand; and Director of the SAMRC Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand