Over the next 12 months, we'll be celebrating 250 years of America in Virginia. Scientific research in 1776 laid the foundation for many of the innovations we see today in the fields of medicine, chemistry, engineering and more. By looking back, we gain a better understanding of our scientific present and future!
After a 1776 smallpox outbreak ravaged the American militia, George Washington ordered his troops to get inoculated. To immunize them against the disease, pustule fluid from an infected soldier was shared with an uninfected soldier. After fighting a less severe form of the disease under quarantine, the soldiers were less likely to die or get severely sick from smallpox in the future.
This same concept informs how modern-day traditional vaccines work. Smallpox, which is estimated to have killed between 300 and 500 million people in the 20th century, was declared forever eradicated in 1980 by the World Health Organization--a monumental public health achievement!
Innovation in mRNA research led to vaccines with 95% clinical efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19. Continued advances in mRNA vaccine technology are working towards treating cancer, cystic fibrosis, strokes and even peanut allergies.
Relevant Virginia Standards of Learning include: BIO.4, BIO.5 and VS.5
