The definition of invention is “the action of inviting something, typically a process or device” according to the Oxford Dictionary. There have been many inventions created over time, from stone tools in the Stone Age to the electric toothbrush in our current age of Big Data. Most of these inventions are created to make our lives easier, but there is one invention created to save millions of people without any discrimination, from rich to poor. Vaccination, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is the administration of a vaccine to stimulate the immune system of the administered individual to naturally develop antibodies to fight disease so that when the individual is in contact with the disease he already has the antibodies in your body to fight the disease. This prevents the individual from being affected by life-threatening diseases as the body already has the antibodies to fight the disease. Vaccinations have been proven to be the most effective treatment for infectious diseases as they prevent the disease from affecting the vaccinated individual. Vaccines are the greatest invention ever created. In this essay I will argue that vaccines are the most important and greatest inventions ever created. They saved the lives of humans, animals and plants. Diseases such as smallpox, polio, and measles, once thought to cause the eradication of life on Earth, have now been controlled through the efficient distribution and use of vaccines. Not only has vaccination saved lives, but it has also saved countries' economies. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to Smith (2011), Louis Pasteur is the father of this invention through his microbiology studies, although Edward Jenner pioneered it by creating the first ever vaccine. The smallpox vaccine was the major contributor to the eradication of smallpox. The World Health Organization states that in 1967, 60% of the world's population was affected by smallpox, from which one in four patients died. According to Fenner (1988), those who survived were scarred and/or blind for the rest of their lives. Smallpox was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980 as the last known case occurred in Somalia in 1977. Thanks to the vaccination created by Edward Jenner, millions of lives were saved by a very cheap and accessible invention , vaccination. they only affect the health of humanity, but they have also created serious damage to the economy of countries. There were fewer people in the workforce as the epidemic left millions dead or blind. This created less revenue for the affected countries. Although smallpox vaccines were inexpensive, all affected countries purchased tons of them as there was a large amount of people requiring vaccination during the smallpox epidemic, causing a dent in the country's capital. The combined effects of the cost of vaccines and workforce reductions cause a large impact on a country's gross domestic product. Although spending on vaccines was high during epidemic phases, in the long term they helped the economy as more people were able to return to daily life in the world of work. Vaccines prevent the disease from infecting the individual, so it is cheaper and safer than treating the disease. The eradication of smallpox was only the beginning of this revolutionary invention. Diseases that were once thought to be incurable and life-threatening now have a chance of being eradicated from the face of the Earth. According to UNICEF statistics (2018) 9 millionLives per year have already been saved through vaccination, and a further 16 million lives per year could be saved if vaccines were distributed effectively. UNICEF claims that polio and measles may be the next solution diseases that can be eradicated with the help of vaccines. Polio and measles currently cause approximately 2 million deaths worldwide. If vaccines could be distributed efficiently as soon as possible to communities affected by these diseases, polio and measles could become like smallpox, a disease of the past. Unfortunately, humans are not the only living organisms affected by bacteria and viruses. Animals and plants have been affected and since livestock and crops are a source of food for us, we are affected too. Farmers are directly affected as livestock and crops are a source of income for them. Some animal diseases can easily spread to humans and farmers if they are directly in contact with them, so they are at greater risk of becoming infected. The loss of livestock and crops can have a negative impact on countries that rely primarily on agricultural sectors to secure their gross domestic product. Vaccines are extremely important when an infectious disease outbreak occurs in livestock and crops as it affects the entire country. It is cheaper to prevent the disease by vaccinating crops and animals rather than trying to treat the infection after it has already infected populations. The effects of vaccination are so incredible that without vaccines the agricultural sector will not be able to cope with the loss of income when a new disease hits the area and destroys livestock and crops. Smallpox was eradicated from cattle with vaccines simultaneously as it was eradicated. in humans. Rift Valley fever is a viral disease of livestock that recently caused an epidemic in 2010 in South Africa and other neighboring countries. Since it is an airborne disease, according to an article by the World Health Organization (2018), containing it is quite difficult and involves serious losses for farmers. The disease also spreads easily to humans from affected animals through mosquitoes and the animals' bodily fluids. This caused a serious impact on sheep farmers in South Africa as they lost assets because the affected animals could not be sold for meat. After vaccines were injected into unaffected cattle, farmers' losses began to decline as they were no longer newly infected cattle. Importing vaccines from other countries caused large expenses for farmers, but in the long run the vaccines were cheaper than treating already infected animals. According to Walter (2018), creating vaccines for plants is the next step for scientists. There are many diseases, viruses, fungi and insects that kill crops, creating drastic losses for farmers and food security problems, especially on the African continent, where a balanced diet cannot be achieved by a large population. Creating vaccines for crop diseases means fewer farmers will need to use pesticides, which will improve the quality of crops and, in turn, reduce diseases that pesticides cause in humans, such as cancer. Consumers will not be the only beneficiaries of crop vaccines, the farmer can create higher yield as there will be no factor affecting the crop yield. Countries that rely on the agricultural sector to contribute largely to gross domestic product, as mentioned above, will benefit greatly.