Fascinating graphs show how some of the deadliest and most contagious diseases in human history were nearly wiped out after vaccines were developed to combat them.
Smallpox, measles and polio have combined to kill hundreds of millions of people throughout human history, leaving millions of people with lifelong deformities or disabilities.
But with the help of vaccines, smallpox has now been eradicated worldwide, polio cases have been reduced by 99 percent, and measles infections have also been drastically reduced.
The charts were published by Max Roser, a University of Oxford researcher and founder of the Our World in Data website, when coronavirus vaccines start to roll out – raising hopes that life will soon return to normal.
Smallpox is considered one of the deadliest diseases in the world, killing nearly half a billion people, until Edward Jenner invented the first vaccine in 1796. Now the disease has been eradicated worldwide (photo, data showing deaths in London following vaccine development)
The University of Oxford has partnered with drug giant AstraZeneca to develop one of the world’s first coronavirus vaccines, which has been shown to be up to 90 percent effective in late studies and is currently being approved for use by the public.
Mr. Roser wrote: “Infectious diseases that once disfigured, pained, paralyzed and killed many of our ancestors have disappeared far from our lives and memories.
“ As we face the COVID-19 pandemic, for many of us it is the first time that for one infectious disease we have experienced what our ancestors experienced in a whole host of them.
Just as they had no protection against the diseases discussed earlier, we are now dealing with a pathogen for which we have no treatment and no protection.
“And now, as then, our best hope is science … To end the suffering COVID-19 is causing, our best hope is a vaccine against the virus.”
As an example, Mr Roser used data on three of the deadliest and most contagious diseases for which vaccines have been developed: smallpox, polio and measles.
Smallpox is considered one of the deadliest diseases in human history, killing more than half a billion people, starting from the time of the ancient Egyptians to 1978.
Nearly a third of those who contracted the disease died from it, leaving survivors with disfiguring scars that they bore for the rest of their lives.
This prompted the English physician Edward Jenner to develop the world’s first vaccine, using the related but milder cowpox disease to protect people from smallpox.
Major outbreaks of polio in the US in the first half of the 20th century left many paralyzed and others killed, until a vaccine developed in 1955 led to a massive drop in the number of serious cases – with the virus in America in 1979. was exterminated.
Measles was a highly contagious disease believed to have infected almost every child before the age of 15 in the US between 1953 and 1963, when the first vaccine was developed and infection rates dropped dramatically
Records show that the number of deaths from smallpox in London declined gradually as the vaccine was administered from 1796 and, barring a major outbreak in the 1870s, consistently declined over the following decades.
The disease was declared eradicated in the UK in 1930 and in 1980 it became the first vaccine eradicated disease worldwide.
While progress with the smallpox vaccine has been slow, the data shows more dramatic results with polio and measles vaccines, which were delivered more quickly.
In the first half of the 20th century, polio outbreaks were common – especially during the summer months – with most of the patients being children.
While most cases of polio were mild, severe cases could leave children with partial paralysis or cause death from paralysis of the muscles that control breathing.
The only treatment for those patients was to be placed in an ‘iron lung’, where they may have to stay for weeks, months, or even years.
Paul Alexander, a 74-year-old from Texas, contracted polio in 1952 at the age of four and had to be put in an iron lung where he remains to this day.
In 1955, American Jonas Salk developed a vaccine against the disease that had an immediate impact on the number of cases and deaths from the virus.
Coronavirus vaccines are now rolling out in the UK and US, and the EU is expected to approve the first vaccine before Christmas, raising hopes that life can return to normal soon
Within just a year, the number of paralytic infections had nearly halved, data show, and by 1979 the virus had been eradicated in the US.
Measles is another highly contagious disease that can cause life-threatening symptoms, including pneumonia and brain swelling.
The disease was first described in the 9th century in Paris, and during the first decade of data collection in the US – from 1912 to 1922 – an average of 6,000 Americans were killed each year.
Between 1953 and 1963, when John Enders first developed a vaccine, it is believed that nearly every child in the US was infected with measles at some point before they turned 15.
Although the number of measles cases rose slightly the year after the introduction of the vaccine, it decreased dramatically in the next four years.
The disease was declared eradicated in the US in 2000, but has since experienced a resurgence as vaccination coverage has declined.
Globally, it is believed that only 70 percent of children now receive the recommended two doses of vaccine every year, while cases are now 20 years high and deaths from the disease have increased by 50 percent over the past four years.
As of today, the coronavirus has infected at least 73 million people since it emerged in China late last year, and has killed at least 1.6 million people.
It is widely believed that these numbers are underestimated due to problems with testing, especially during the first wave of infection.
To get the virus under control, governments around the world have plunged their populations into lockdowns that have paralyzed economies and triggered a global recession with effects likely to be felt for years to come.
That global impact has led scientists to create a vaccine against the disease in less than 12 months, in a process that can normally take years or decades.
Pictured left, two boys who had been exposed to the smallpox virus, but only one of whom had been vaccinated; and on the right, a ward of polio patients who were treated with iron lungs after the virus made them difficult to breathe
The first vaccine to report data from large-scale studies, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, has been approved for use in the UK and US with massive vaccination programs currently underway – and the EU is expected to approve it before Christmas.
Two other vaccines, developed by Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca, are also expected to be approved by regulatory authorities in the coming months.
Safety testing has shown that the Pfizer and Modrena vaccines are up to 95 percent effective in preventing serious illnesses caused by the disease, while the Oxford shot is up to 90 percent effective with an average of 70 percent.
It is not yet clear whether these early vaccines will prevent people from contracting the disease, but they should help prevent people from dying from them.
Moderna has since submitted data indicating that the vaccine could prevent people from contracting the disease – by breaking chains of infection and preventing the disease from infecting those who have not yet been vaccinated.
However, the injections have proven controversial and many said they will refuse to take them for safety reasons, despite experts and medical regulators insisting they are safe.
In America, 39 percent of those surveyed said in November that they will not or probably will not take the vaccine – although half of that group said they could change their mind if more data becomes available.
Skepticism is also high among European countries: only about a third of the countries in Sweden, Germany and Italy “completely agree” that they would take the vaccine.
Rates are even lower in Russia, Poland, Hungary and France, where only one in five agreed with the statement, a poll in September showed.
In combination with those who ‘somewhat agree’, they would take a vaccine, in all those countries the percentage rose to more than half.