Vaccinia

Vaccinia is a virus that is used to create a vaccine against smallpox. The vaccine is an orthopoxvirus and is genetically related to the variola virus, although it is less dangerous.

Vaccination was first used by Edward Jenner in 1796 to create the world's first smallpox vaccine by deliberately infecting people with cowpox. This made it possible to induce immunity to smallpox in people without the risk of a fatal disease. Vaccination has helped eradicate smallpox worldwide.

Today, vaccinia is still used to produce some vaccines, particularly against smallpox. It is also sometimes used for immunization against other viral infections.

The vaccine is a vaccine against cowpox. This disease is one of the most contagious and dangerous human pathogens. The outcome of a smallpox epidemic is always disastrous. Leprosy took away large areas from humanity. It even happened that the epidemic covered all cities, without exception, in one or another part of the world. There was no single point of salvation. The only way to avoid infection is to wear thick clothing and refuse to leave the house unless absolutely necessary. But there were suits that the sick person managed to get under without being buttoned up.

The name “cowpox” was given to the disease precisely because of epidemics that could be recorded once a century when smallpox affected the cow population. Epidemics always happened according to the same pattern: first many animals died, and then people became infected (sometimes the entire village). Due to such a serious danger of the disease, it was called cowpox - according to the principle “if you give a cow, I’ll die, if you don’t give it, I’ll die.” True, the name did not catch on, and another, international one, Vaccinia, appeared. It appeared after cowpox was preferred to the more formidable “smallpox.”