A Short Story Of Vaccination

Imvanex is a vaccine currently approved for vaccination against smallpox, developed by Bavarian Nordic based on the Modified Vaccinia Ankara virus strain. It is non-replicable in humans and can therefore be injected subcutaneously and is also approved for vaccination of people with immune deficiencies. Although smallpox is considered eradicated, samples of smallpox virus are still stored in research laboratories in the USA and Russia.

As a professor at Lviv University, the Polish biologist Rudolf Weigl (1883-1957) developed a spotted fever vaccine that protected against severe courses of the disease for at least one year. Unlike other research groups, Weigl obtained his vaccine from infected lice intestines.

After the invasion of the Wehrmacht, Weigl's laboratory became a branch of the Institute for Spotted Fever and Virus Research of the Army High Command in Krakow, and production of the coveted spotted fever vaccine was expanded. Rudolf Weigl managed to save the lives of many thousands of people (including Polish university professors and Jewish fellow citizens) by classifying their dangerous work as "lice feeders" as "important to the war effort."

Tetanol vaccine against tetanus:
Tetanus is usually fatal. The bacterium Clostridium tetani, which lives in the soil, can enter the body even through small wounds. When infected, it forms a powerful toxin: tetanus toxin. The pure toxin can be converted into a non-toxic form called toxoid by treatment with formaldehyde. Adsorbed to a mineral carrier such as aluminum hydroxide, the toxoid serves as a vaccine. The vaccination should be refreshed every ten years.

Combination vaccines - one prick, triple protection:
Just one painful prick - and you're protected against mumps, measles and rubella. Combination vaccines (here the MMR vaccine "Priorix"), which were first used in the 1970s, make this possible! The protective effect is not compromised and fewer additives usually make them better tolerated. Another advantage is that only one appointment with the doctor is necessary. Other combinations include tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio (polio), or hepatitis A and B.

Vaccination protects against cancer!
The German Nobel Prize winner Harald zur Hausen was able to prove that infection with HPV (wart viruses) plays a decisive role in the development of cervical cancer (cervical carcinoma). The discovery of the trigger of the third most common cancer in women opened up completely new perspectives for prevention and treatment and ultimately led to the development of HPV vaccines, which have been available since 2006. HPV vaccines specifically protect against certain sexually transmitted human papillomaviruses (HPV). This is a new nine-drug vaccine that protects against HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58. This vaccine is produced by genetic engineering and contains only non-infectious viral envelopes.

Ervebo is the name of hope in the fight against Ebola, one of the world's deadliest viruses. For around two-thirds of Ebola patients, the disease is fatal. 

In Ervebo, the genetic material for a vaccine antigen is inserted into a carrier virus, which is then injected as a vaccine. The protein of this genetic material is incorporated into the surface of the vector and thus introduced into the body. There, these proteins then trigger the production of antibodies in the vaccinated person. This is the first approved vaccine based on the new vector technology.

This is an mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine developed in 2020 by the German pharmaceutical company Biontech in cooperation with the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer against the pandemic viral disease SARS-CoV-2 ("Corona").

Naked mRNA is physically and thermally unstable. In order to reach the site of action without prior degradation and to be able to exert its effect, the mRNA is embedded ("packaged") in lipid nanoparticles ("lipid beads"). After injection, this is taken up by body cells, which then produce the S protein (spike protein) according to the blueprint of the mRNA. This is recognized by the immune system as foreign, which stimulates the production of protective antibodies.

On December 21, 2020, the vaccine was conditionally licensed in the European Union for persons over 16 years of age (now for persons 12 years of age and older), and the two ampoules were vaccinated in Germany.