The COVID-19 pandemic has once again turned the spotlight on a thorny and controversial issue that has been debated for years now, which sees two opposing positions, as:

 • supporters of vaccine: as a tool of prevention and prophylaxis – YES Vax!

 • opponents of vaccine: as a harmful or even deadly tool – NO Vax!

But let’s proceed step by step!

The vaccine is one of the most important discoveries in the history of medicine and one of the most important achievements that man has ever been able to achieve for the protection of the human species.

Its discovery is relatively recent: it dates back to 14 May 1796, when a brilliant English doctor and researcher, Edward Jenner, grafted into the arm of an 8-year-old child a small amount of purulent material taken from the wounds of a woman suffering from Cowpox (the form of Smallpox that affected cattle and, in mild cutaneous form, also farmers). Shortly thereafter, the child became immune!

Such practice was called: “vaccination”!

In the same year Edward Jenner repeated this experiment on 13 other cases, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of vaccination against Smallpox (a disease now eradicated).

In the following years, world-renowned scientists, such as: Pasteur, Kock, Sobin, and many others have found the preventive cure (the vaccine) for many other diseases that have plagued humanity for millennia.

For this reason we can consider vaccination as a safe and effective technique which for centuries has contributed to having the World as we know it today!

Let’s imagine for a moment that vaccines did not exist… The questions to ask then would be: what would the World look like today? How many deaths and how many sick people would we have more every day? What would the living conditions be today?

Actually, it is difficult to answer these questions because it is difficult to imagine a different World from the one obtained thanks to vaccines! Certainly, the opposite would be to imagine a World in which you should continuously adopt: precautions, prophylaxis, distancing, masks, and more!

What life would it have been?

Nevertheless, for many years, a lot of theories, researches or other forms of investigation have been developed and disseminated in order to demonize the vaccine by considering it an ineffective or even harmful tool for humans.

Some pseudo-scientific positions indeed associate it with autism, rare diseases or other diseases that were considered non-existent before the vaccine was administered.

Some groups, movements or other subjects believe instead that the vaccine is commercialized and introduced on the market only to enrich pharmaceutical companies or to “manipulate” us in order to create a new “world order”.

And this is how the ultra-decades-long battle began: YES Vax – NO Vax!

A clash with bright tones that fuels strikes, sit-ins, demonstrations or other forms of protest which sometimes degenerate into street clashes, unfortunately causing serious damage to things and people.

However, today, it is almost impossible, if not extremely rare, to demonstrate or establish a direct correlation between a vaccine and the onset of various diseases; as much as it is almost impossible, if not extremely rare, to convince a NO Vax to the contrary!

It is possible, instead, to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of vaccines and their invaluable contribution to human development.

Therefore, it is not certain that in theory, or in very rare cases, there can be direct and harmful correlations for the single individual but, today, we can only thank the science and technology that have enabled such progress and saved millions of lives.

Man, indeed, has always feared what he cannot understand, recognize, and sometimes cure!

Today, instead, as we can understand (and we also have a cure) we shouldn’t be afraid anymore!