Vaccination and Homeopathy

History of Vaccination

The history of vaccination dates back to the late 18th century when in 1796 Edward Jenner, a British physician and scientist inoculated the Cowpox virus to develop immunity against the then prevalent pandemic, Smallpox. And this came to known as the first vaccine ever made. Smallpox, a life-threatening illness caused by the Variola virus, nearly killed billions of people in the world and around 60 million in Europe in the 18th century, while in the 20th century itself smallpox claimed 300-500 million lives worldwide. However, some people who contracted this deadly disease didn’t die from it and became immune from reinfection. Since smallpox was not a novel disease, its first evidence of infection has been dated to 3,000 years back in Egyptian mummies, the need for a prophylactic treatment to save mankind was being experimented over the years. That implies the origin of vaccination runs its course even before Edward Jenner’s much-celebrated experiment.

During the 16th century, people in China invented a technique called insufflation to make themselves immune to lethal Smallpox. They would collect the scabs of the dried smallpox lesions from the recovered patients and ground them into powder form and then inhale it into the nose through a pipe. This process would produce a milder form of smallpox in the healthy body and would provide immunity to its more virulent form in certain cases. Jenner’s method of introducing immunity into the body differs slightly. He observed that cows also develop a disease much similar to smallpox in humans in its symptomatology and milkmaids who contracted cowpox never got smallpox. Jenner concluded that the Cowpox virus can be used to treat smallpox. With the introduction and use of the cowpox vaccine, the W.H.O in 1980 declared the world to be free of smallpox. Although Jenner used the cowpox virus in material doses, however, over the years and with the invention and progress in the scientific and medical field either an attenuated substance or toxins of the organisms are used in the formation of vaccines for other diseases too.

Hence, a vaccine is a medical formulation that consists of an attenuated pathogenic substance of lower pathogenicity that produces a milder form of the same disease that needs to be prevented or cured. A vaccine is usually given before getting a disease which makes it a prophylaxis. And the process of getting vaccinated is called vaccination.

How Vaccines Act in the Body

Vaccines act as an antigen upon injection into the body as they contain a pathogenic material that produces a milder form of the disease for which it is taken against.

Our body’s immune system reacts to this intentional infection and produces antibodies in response to that and thus protect from those diseases. This also means that vaccines provide immunity for particular diseases only and do not benefit the overall immune-strengthening mechanism.

Homeopathy, Vaccination, and Homeoprophylaxis

In Organon Of Medicine, Dr. Hahnemann has made certain references for prophylactic treatment. For example in aphorism 73, footnote 2 Hahnemann has advised Aconite as a prophylactic and curative in Purpura miliaris. Another medicine Belladonna, a prophylactic for Scarlet fever. Another reference to similar measures has been mentioned in aphorism 33, footnote 1 when Belladonna is again cited as a curative and protective remedy for Smooth Scarlatina of Sydenham. All these references show that Homeopathy as a system of medicine is effective in the prevention of epidemics. Moreover, the prophylactic power of Belladonna has been confirmed by many physicians of that time like Hufeland, Wolf, Cramer, Bloch, and others. Also, in footnote 7 to aphorism 46, Hahnemann has praised Edward Jenner for his Variola vaccine which saved mankind from deadly disease. But despite the positive effects of vaccines, it has not been taken with open arms in the community. The divided discourse on the safeness and effectiveness of vaccines has been there for centuries and exists in the contemporary world as well among public health workers and researchers.

The polarity of opinions for vaccines exists because:

A) Vaccines do not strengthen the overall immune system to fight for all the infections and diseases. But selectively produce antibodies against the given vaccine only, that too for a short time.

B) Vaccines harm the body in many ways. When a baby is born, it is subjected to various vaccinations in the name of immunity.

The newborn, whose immune status is still unknown introduced to various pathogenic material through vaccines given after birth. Such vaccines may lead to complications in infants and young children like skin allergies, fever, rash, GIT troubles, deafness, paralysis, seizures,etc.

C) The contents of vaccines consist of not just pathogenic strain of harmful organisms but also have chemicals which act as vehicle and preservative for the main constituent. And these could be aluminum hydroxide, mercury, borax, etc.

These chemicals also harm the body and its functioning.

D) The method on which vaccination is based on opposes the fundamental law of homeopathy. Almost all the vaccines are based on the principles of isopathy, in which the same substance is used to prevent the disease which it is responsible for. Hence, homeopaths with a classical approach go against vaccination.

The homeopathic materia medica has recorded symptoms of ill-effects of vaccines.

* Bad effects of vaccination, especially abscesses and convulsions- Silicea. ( H.C.Allen)

* Arrested development, skin eruptions, respiratory trouble, diarrhea after vaccination- Thuja

* Blood poisoning, septicaemia- Malandrinum

* Boils, carbuncles, inflammation of lymph nodes with bleeding diathesis- Crotalus horridus.

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