Vaccine 

 【Language and Culture Series】

Welcome back to our language and culture series！

Today, let's explore the origin of the word "vaccine."

It can be traced back to the Latin word "vacca," meaning "cow." 🐮🐄 This word derived from the term "vaccinia," which was the name for the cowpox virus. The connection to cows is significant because the development of the smallpox vaccine involved the use of cowpox virus.

In the late 18th century, Edward Jenner, an English physician, observed that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox, a relatively mild disease, seemed to be immune to smallpox, a much more severe and deadly disease. Building on this observation, Jenner conducted an experiment in 1796 where he injected a young boy with material from a cowpox lesion and then later exposed him to smallpox, demonstrating that the boy was indeed protected from smallpox. 🥽

Jenner coined the term "vaccine" from the Latin "vacca" to describe this method of immunization using cowpox virus.🦠 The term "vaccine" has since come to refer to any preparation used to stimulate the body's immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease, whether it's made from weakened or killed germs, their toxins, or other components.