Gates Package — page 1034

* (The word vaccine vaccinia, which in turn is derived from vacca, the Latin .)14 oratory research designed to smallpox, but not nearly as deadly--made him immune to smallpox too.* (The word vaccine comes from name of the cowpox virus, vaccinia, which in turn is derived from vacca, the Latin word for cow.)14 By the end of the nineteenth century, you could get immunized against smallpox, rabies, plague, cholera, and typhoid. But you wouldn't be sure whether the vaccine was any good, or even whether it was safe. This unregulated market had tragic consequences. In 1901, a contaminated smallpox vaccine caused an outbreak of tetanus is Camden, New Jersey. That same year, a contaminated serum that was supposed to offer protection from the bacterial infection diphtheria killed thirteen children in St. Louis.15 Spurred by outrage over these incidents, the U.S. Congress began regulating the quality of vaccines and drugs, creating the Hygienic Laboratory of the U.S. Public Health Service in 1902. The job of regulation eventually moved over to the Food and Drug Administration, and responsibility for federal research stayed with the Public Health Service, which we know today as the National Institutes of Health.16 In the previous chapter, I walked through the process for getting a drug approved. It works largely the same way for vaccines, so I'll give just a quick summary here and note the major differences between getting approvals for drugs versus vaccines. The exploratory stage. Two to four years of basic laboratory research designed to identify candidates.17 * Like a lot of scientists at the time, Jenner had wide-ranging interests. He was an ornithologist and also studied the hibernation of hedgehogs.