Vaccination was first trialled in 1796 by Edward Jenner in Berkeley. Since then, vaccines have saved over 500 million lives, making them the single most effective health intervention in history.
The story of their discovery is striking because the doubts and resistance Jenner faced are not so different from those we see today. His cowpox inoculation was so effective that it spread rapidly, even though the science of immunology was not yet advanced enough to explain why it worked. That gap in knowledge allowed sceptics to dismiss the evidence and spread rumour and misinformation. They felt it their moral duty to oppose what they saw as a dangerous, unscientific practice. Yet Jenner’s supporters, who saw deaths plummet from smallpox, believed just as strongly in their moral obligation to promote vaccination.
Fast-forward to today, and we benefit from vaccines against a whole range of deadly diseases — diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, meningitis — illnesses that, as a doctor, I rarely encounter anymore. Sadly, vaccine doubts have resurfaced, fuelled in part by Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent study in the 1990s, which falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism. Although his work has been thoroughly discredited and retracted, the damage was done. Vaccination rates fell, and diseases we thought banished are returning. Just last year, I saw my first ever case of measles, and a child in Liverpool tragically died from the disease. Without at least 95% uptake, herd immunity collapses and outbreaks spread unchecked.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, vaccines once again proved their worth. They helped control the outbreak and allowed society to reopen. It is true that some patients experienced serious side effects, and in rare cases these were fatal. These tragedies are real, and my heart goes out to the families affected. But after enormous clinical trials and real-world data, the evidence is beyond doubt: far more lives were saved than lost.
The real danger now is loss of trust. If vaccination rates continue to fall, diseases long under control will return, threatening not just our health but our national security — as dangerous as bioterrorism or industrial sabotage.
To truly protect our children and ourselves, we must rebuild confidence in vaccines. We must stand up to fraudulent claims and political opportunism, and instead look to science, evidence, and history. The lesson from Jenner’s time to ours is clear: we are far safer with vaccines than without them. Our future health depends on the choices we make today.
