A pandemic is an outbreak of an infectious disease that spreads through a vast area, such as several continents or the entire world, and has affected many people.

History of pandemics

Pandemics have been around for over 10,000 years. The earliest known and worst pandemic in history was recorded in 430 B.C. in Athens, killing two-thirds of the affected population. It is now believed to be typhoid. Different types of pandemics were recorded every 100 years or so, from smallpox to the Bubonic plague, called the black death, Leprosy, Cholera, measles, Spanish Flu, AIDS SARS most recently.

The ongoing COVID 19 pandemic first came to light in December 2019 and has infected 121 million people worldwide to date. As the world came to a standstill amid global lockdown, a host of related words and phrases have occupied our memories. Asymptomatic, community spread, contact tracing, COVID appropriate behaviour, flatten the curve, hand wash, herd immunity, isolation, quarantine, masks, outbreak, cluster, super spreader, and PCR. PPE, social distancing, transmission, and the most ‘positive’ one of all – vaccine!

It is widely accepted that Englishman Edward Jenner’s use of cowpox pustules was used against smallpox, leading to the invention of vaccines. However, evidence exists that the Chinese used this form of vaccination as early as 1000 BC. It was practiced in Africa and Turkey before it was adopted in Europe and the Americas.

Types of COVID vaccines

Today, over 380+ million people have already been vaccinated with several COVID 19 vaccines – Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sputnik, Novavax, among others, have started to give us all hope of a post COVID world.

Innovative techniques have gone into vaccine analysis and manufacture, with DNA technology and new delivery techniques guiding scientists onto breakthroughs, including the record time in which these have been made available. Scientists around the world are developing many more potential vaccines for COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccination teaches the body’s immune system to safely recognize and block the virus that causes this potentially fatal disease.

To know more about diseases and how they spread, watch informative 3D simulations on Practically.

• Infectious Diseases – Learn about different infectious agents and organ-tissue specific manifestations
• Means of Diseases Spread – How does one catch a cold? Watch the video to know how infectious diseases spread through air, water, food
• Harmful Microorganisms – Understand what microorganisms are and why they are harmful to the human body
• Viral Diseases – Study about viruses and the types of viral diseases
• Biotechnology Principles and Processes like Recombinant DNA Technology – Learn how these principles and modern techniques are used in vaccine research and production

And many more videos like Viruses’ Chemical Nature and Vaccination and Immunisation on the Practically app and learn about human health, viruses, disease, vaccination, and immunisation. The self-learning app also allows you to take IQ Tests at the end of the videos to test your knowledge. Do you have more questions on COVID-19 testing or COVID-19 vaccination in India? Just Ask Proton or use the Seek Help feature for doubt resolution 24x7 and Bring Learning Alive!

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