On Wednesday, November 11, Dr Hilary stressed “you can’t make the vaccine compulsory”. Instead, he wants the public to be “educated” on vaccinations. Here, we explore the history of British vaccinations.
Speaking to co-hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, Dr Hilary Jones said the coronavirus vaccine trial has been “carried out on 50,000 people in six different countries”.
“The data suggest it’s effective and safe,” revealed Dr Hilary. “This vaccine looks like a really good candidate to protect the population at large.”
He added: “It protects the individual, protects the NHS, and protects the society at large.”
It must be noted, though, that longer term effects – if any – of the vaccination will only be discovered with time.
The history of British public health vaccinations?
As Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine trial is deemed successful, what’s the British history with vaccinations?
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine posted A History of Public Health in Post-War Britain.
Dr Gareth Millward explained the premise behind vaccination began when “societies used scabs and pus from smallpox victims to protect themselves from the disease”.
This process, known as variolation, was introduced from societies in India, China and the Middle East to the West in the early eighteenth century.
In the late 1800s, doctors “saw the benefits of using cowpox instead of smallpox”, thus vaccination become a more useful public health measure.
With less risk of cross-infection, the British government made it “compulsory for children in 1853”.
Due to public outrage, an opt-out option was introduced in 1898; by the late nineteenth century, the advances of technology updated the practise of medicine.
As the microscope was invented, vaccinations became based on bacteriology and virology.
By the Second World War, Britain adopted the BCG (an anti-tuberculosis vaccine).
The Ministry of Health “started a national policy of immunisation” that was voluntary.
Yet, this was proven to be effective, “boosting the profile of vaccination among the British medical community”.
“By the 1970s, there were routine vaccinations against measles and tetanus.”
Moreover, the current vaccination schedule includes immunisations against “mumps, rubella and pneumonia”.
In 2019, the World Health Organisation declared anti-vaccinationism as one of the “top ten threats to global health”.