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Review
. 2021 Jul 26;13(7):e16635.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.16635. eCollection 2021 Jul.

Vaccine Development Throughout History

Amr Saleh  1 , Shahraz Qamar  2 , Aysun Tekin  3 , Romil Singh  3 , Rahul Kashyap  3
Affiliations
Review

Vaccine Development Throughout History

Amr Saleh et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has made us appreciate how important it is to quickly develop treatments and save lives. The race to develop a vaccine for this novel coronavirus began as soon as the pandemic emerged. Time was the only limiting factor. From the first vaccine developed in 1796 against smallpox to the latest COVID-19 vaccine, there have been several vaccines that have reduced the burden of disease, with the associated mortality and morbidity. Over the years we have seen many new advancements in organism isolation, cell culture, whole-genome sequencing, and recombinant nuclear techniques. These techniques have greatly facilitated the development of vaccines. Each vaccine has its own development story and there is much wisdom to be gained from learning about breakthroughs in vaccine development.

Keywords: cholera; covid-19; infectious and parasitic diseases; polio; rabies; smallpox; vaccine development.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Vaccine history timeline.
COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; FDA, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; HPV, human papillomavirus
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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