Vaccination against COVID-19 – historical foundations

Abstract

Vaccinations are a relatively recent development in human history. Variolation, i.e. contacting healthy persons with biological material from mildly ill individuals was the prototype of a vaccine. Although used for centuries, it was only at the end of the 19th century that Louis Pasteur developed the first successful vaccines (including against rabies). Over the years, new preparations against many diseases were developed and improved by modifying, among others, route of administration or antigen vector. The general mechanism of action, i.e. preparing the immune system to fight off a given pathogen, remained unchanged. Vaccination has contributed to the reduced spread of multiple infectious diseases, and even complete elimination of some of them. The discovery of vaccination had a significant impact on reducing mortality, extending lifespan and improving the quality of life. We are again facing the threat of infectious epidemics in this era of advancing globalisation, climate crisis and population migratory movements. These predictions were confirmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Intensive work of many research centres has led to a rapid development of an innovative mRNA vaccine against this clinical entity. These vaccines act by introducing an mRNA template into the host cell to stimulate antigen synthesis in vivo. Once again, science has succeeded in limiting the spread of a disease, which was a historic breakthrough. This paper presents a historical outline of the stages of the development of vaccinology leading to the modern concept and technology of vaccine production.