Historia de las vacunas

SMALLPOX

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1796

It is the only disease that was completely eradicated through vaccination campaigns. The last case of smallpox was recorded in 1977. Today there's a debate on whether or not to destroy the preserved virus strains.

SEVERE CHRONIC DIARRHEA

In Africa and Asia, the vaccine reduced acute illness among breastfed babies, and countries that have implemented national vaccination programs have seen a decrease in the rates and severity of infection of up to 80 percent.

1879

1881

ANTHRAX

Various campaigns carried out since the discovery of the vaccine have kept this disease at an immunity level of 93 percent. When this is expressed in human lives, the value is immeasurable.

Rabies is one of the oldest and most feared viral conditions. A total of 95 percent of cases of human rabies are caused by dogs, hence the importance of vaccinating animals. If the virus cannot be curtailed and symptoms present, the mortality rate is almost 100 percent.

1882

RABIES

CHOLERA

1884

Spaniard Jaime Ferrán was the first to propose that humans be immunized against a bacterial disease. He created the vaccine by cultivating bacteria extracted from a sick person and administering it to healthy people via injections into the arm. This is standard today.

1890

TETANUS

Emil von Behring realized that it was possible to develop immunity against tetanus by means of an injection of graduated doses of serum from an animal carrying the disease. In 1901 he became the first person in history to receive a Nobel Prize in Medicine.

DIPHTHERIA

Since the emergence of effective immunization in the 1920s, diphtheria infections have declined significantly. Its reach was further expanded in 1974 when the WHO included it on its list of recommended vaccines.

PLAGUE

Although Alexandre Yersin invented the first anti-plague preparation, its design proved ineffective. The discovery of antibiotics alleviated the rush to attain a safe preventive, although all signs suggest that it will be available to us in a few years.

1897

1926

Whooping cough affects several million people a year, of which approximately 89,000 are children. It is one of the leading causes of deaths preventable from vaccination worldwide.

WHOOPING COUGH

The vaccine was developed by Léon Charles Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin, who made history with their very important discovery. Because of this it was named after its two discoverers: Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG.

1927

TUBERCULOSIS

YELLOW FEVER

In its most severe form, the mortality rate for people infected with yellow fever can reach 50 percent. However, it is preventable with the vaccine. A single dose is enough to provide immunity for at least ten years.

1937

Today, typhus is only considered endemic in areas such as East Africa and some regions of South and Central America. Vaccines to prevent the disease are no longer available. Improved hygiene, insecticides and antibiotics are facilitating their disappearance.

TYPHUS

1945

The first flu vaccine was approved for military use in the United States in 1945, and for civilian use in 1946. It became a priority for the US military to acquire after the death of around 1 in 67 soldiers during the 1918–1919 pandemic.

FLU

POLIOMYELITIS

The number of polio cases worldwide has declined from 350,000 in 1988 to only 22 in 2017. If it continues at this rate, it will soon be the second human infectious disease to be eliminated from the planet.

1952

MEASLES

1964

The two doses of the medicine can achieve efficacy of very close to 100 percent, providing lifelong protection. It is estimated that between 2000 and 2016 it prevented more than 20 million deaths worldwide. Each immunization costs less than one euro.

1967

MUMPS

Historically, Maurice Hilleman is considered to be one of the people who has saved the most lives. Not only was he responsible for the mumps vaccine, but during his long career he developed a total of 40 further vaccines.

RUBELLA

Also achieved by Maurice Hilleman from a mixture first prepared by Paul Parkman and Harry Meyer. A year later, in 1971, the MMR vaccine was authorized, which provided combined protection against measles, mumps and rubella.

Chickenpox is caused by the varicella-zoster virus and is very contagious. It is generally mild, but can be severe in babies, adolescents, adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems. It is advisable to prevent it with the vaccination.

CHICKENPOX

1974

1977

One of the challenges of producing a pneumococcal vaccine was determining which pneumococcal bacteria out of more than 90 types was the cause of the disease. Maurice Hilleman, along with Robert Austrian this time, was behind this prophylactic.

PNEUMONIA

MENINGITIS

1978

The mortality rate is between 9 and 12 percent, and up to 20 percent of survivors of this invasive meningococcal disease suffer permanent damage. This can include brain damage or hearing loss. The emergence of the vaccine was a major relief from all this.

In 2015, hepatitis B caused more than 800,000 deaths. There is no specific treatment for it, so the WHO recommends that children be vaccinated at birth. From that moment on, 95 percent are protected.

1981

HEPATITIS B

1985

HAEMOPHILUS INFLUENZAE TYPE B (HIB)

Nowadays, although the majority of deaths caused by Hib are recorded in countries where the vaccine is not widely used, there are still deaths in developed nations when vaccination rates are relaxed.

1992

Maurice Hilleman spent decades working on the vaccine. The tests carried out in 1992 showed that it was 100 percent effective in protecting against the disease, reducing its occurrence by approximately 75 percent.

HEPATITIS A

The vaccine was created using an unusual method: stimulating antibodies that attacked Lyme bacteria in the tick's intestine while it consumed blood from the human host, before the bacteria entered the organism.

LYME DISEASE

1998

HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS

This vaccine is able to prevent most cases of cervical cancer if administered before a woman is exposed to the virus. It also prevents vaginal and vulvar cancer in women, and genital warts and anal cancer in women and men.

2005

Antiviral drugs can cure more than 95 percent of cases, but access to diagnosis and treatment is limited. There is actually no specific hepatitis C preventive yet that has proven to be effective, although research is still under way.

HEPATITIS C

2009

The first collective vaccination program was launched in early 2020. By mid-February 2021, 175.3 million doses had already been administered. Only in the next few months will we be able to answer all the questions we have right now.

COVID-19

2020

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INFLUENZA A (H1N1)

Influenza A or swine flu was one of the last major pandemics before the onset of COVID-19. It took a little over four months to start distributing the vaccine. It was a race against the clock rarely seen up until that point.

Various campaigns carried out since the discovery of the vaccine have kept this disease at an immunity level of 93 percent. When this is expressed in human lives, the value is immeasurable.

1882

1945

1978