Sixty

Right now I am learning about vaccination. This is pretty interesting. People are believed to have been using some form of vaccination for over two thousand years, primarily against smallpox. People in Asia would deliberately expose themselves to mild cases of smallpox to keep themselves from getting it later. Around 1800 Europeans started using cowpox to vaccinate themselves against smallpox (hence the word "vaccine"--from the Latin "vacca," cow). In the early days they would vaccinate people by cutting a slit in their arm, swabbing sombody's smallpox pustule, and then rubbing it in the slit. Eeeeeew. I mean, I know that's basically still what they do, but let's dress it up a little bit with syringes and Strawberry Shortcake band-aids, shall we?

There are three types of vaccine that can be given: one kind where the virus is dead, one where it's alive but not very stong, and one where you don't get the actual virus at all but just a certain protein from the virus that will trigger an immune reaction.

Compulsory vaccination was used to eliminate smallpox, is currently being used to eliminate polio, and may soon be used to eliminate measles. Some people object to compulsory vaccination on religious grounds or out of the belief that vaccinations are not as safe as we believe (the possible connection between vaccinations and autism, for example). People with strong objections may be exempted from compulsory vaccination.