EMERGING TRENDS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASE
COVID-19 VACCINATION – A RENEWED CALL TO ACTION ON ADULT VACCINATION IN THE US
AUTHOR Paul Schulz , MD
In 1798 , Edward Jenner privately published
a small booklet entitled An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccine describing what we now call vaccination as a way to eradicate small pox . He had spent 25 years studying the three types of cowpox to perfect his inoculation . His publication was met with mixed reactions from the medical community , and afterwards he went to London in search of volunteers for vaccination . However , after three months , he had found none . Eventually , vaccination gained momentum through the activities of other physicians and by the year 1800 , it had reached most European countries .
Nearly two hundred years later , in 1980 , small pox had been eradicated from the world . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared vaccination to be one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century . Despite this declaration , supported by other great vaccination success stories such as polio and measles eradication from the US , vaccination has become controversial here , resulting in recent US epidemics of pertussis ( 2010 and 2014 ) and measles outbreaks ( not technically an epidemic ) in 2019 .
The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought the topic of vaccination to the societal forefront again . Unfortunately , as I write this article during the Thanksgiving holiday , COVID-19 cases and travel surge throughout the US with Dr . Anthony Fauci warning of a “ surge upon a surge ” occurring as a result . Fortunately , three pharmaceutical companies have already announced high efficacy rates in phase III trials of their respective new COVID-19 vaccine designs , and many more pharmaceutical companies have new vaccines in development . By the time this article is published , it is highly likely multiple COVID-19 vaccines will have received Emergency Use Authorization for adults from the Food and Drug Administration . We hope that enough doses of those vaccines will have been distributed to all high-risk health care workers and first responders in the US in December and January . Presumably , enough doses to vaccinate all adults in the US , beginning with residents of long-term care facilities , will be distributed by the end of 2021 . The federal government has committed to barring out of pocket cost as a barrier to vaccination .
The durability of COVID-19 immunity achieved through infec-
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