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Mon 30 May, 2005 10:41 am
at school i have been taught in biology that when a small weakened part of a disease is injected into a person so the body can destroy it then recognise it in future, is known as vaccination.
however my history teacher tells us that edward jenner was the first person to create a vaccine by injecting people with cowpox to prevent small pox.
so is a vaccine, where the same diseace is injected or a different one?
Inoculation is the general term for inducing immunity to a disease. Vaccination is a specific type of inoculation where an antigen is introduced in order to promote the creation of specific antibodies.
Vaccination is not done using exactly the same disease as the one you want immunity from. It is usually done using a modified, weakened, similar, or dead version of the disease.
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