In an age where we’re more connected digitally than ever before, finding the words that have shaped a year has never been easier. Perhaps, unsurprisingly Merriam-Webster, the oldest US-based publisher of dictionaries, declared that ‘vaccine’ was the Word of 2021, having seen high search volumes for this word.
See how this year’s Word of the Year differs from our list of Words That Defined 2020.
To many, vaccines are an example of the marvels science can achieve, a tool to stop COVID-19 in its tracks. To others, however, the very definition of the word has been altered and taken on alternative meaning. This goes to show how language can be understood to generate a wide variety of public opinions on even the most fundamental of words.
It’s a fascinating look into the evolution of a word in less than 12 months…
The origin of vaccines
The word vaccine stems from a scientific innovation made not in a modern-day laboratory, but by the physician and scientist Edward Jenner in 1798. Jenner realised that by infecting people with cowpox, a fairly mild disease, one could ensure protection against smallpox, a deadly disease that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. The word vaccine as we know it was created from the Latin term Variolae vaccinae (smallpox of a cow), which Jenner used to describe cowpox when writing about his exciting discovery.
A tool for combatting smallpox soon evolved into a medical breakthrough that helped eradicate the disease entirely by the late-20th century. Since the days of Edward Jenner, vaccines have been created to help millions achieve immunity against a wide range of diseases, such as measles, polio, mumps, tetanus and many more.
In a modern-day context, the word vaccine has seen a dramatic resurgence in popularity, with Google Trends noting a spike in searches using the term since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spike is especially marked since the emergence in early 2021 of new vaccines to help people achieve protection from hospitalisation from the disease. While millions of shots have been administered since the start of the year, not all of us have welcomed this scientific marvel so freely. In corners of the online world, ‘vaccine’ has been corrupted by people who are sceptical of this science, changing the word, to the point where it can take on a whole new meaning.
Twisting words
The word vaccine, like the novel coronavirus, has evolved somewhat since the days of Edward Jenner. Much of this is due to cultural shifts, particularly in the way people view the safety of vaccines themselves. Since the 1990s, a growing number of vaccine-sceptic people have emerged, who question whether vaccines are safe for use, including the new vaccines for use in the fight against COVID-19. To be opposed to the concept of vaccine take-up on health and safety grounds means one is considered “anti-vax” or an “anti-vaxxer”, for example.
Intriguingly, the Oxford English Dictionary declared the word ‘vax’ to be its chosen Word of 2021, ditching the Cs altogether, in favour of this more slang-like approach to the word, using the letter X instead. Vax can be taken to have a connotation of adoption, having been double-vaxxed, or be twisted into a more sceptical or oppositional one when using anti-vax instead.
To those who believe in the power of vaccines, the word vaccine represents a modern-day triumph of humanity over disease. However, to those hesitant or sceptical, who doubt the efficacy or safety of such medical interventions, vaccines are viewed as something which warrants more investigation and research.
Vaccine is just the latest word to find itself at the centre of the culture wars in the real and online worlds, with the original meaning often twisted by some into an almost-unrecognisable one which is far beyond anything Edward Jenner could have imagined in 1798.
The duality of vaccines
In an era in which disinformation and so-called ‘fake news’ are easier to disseminate than ever, much like a virus (hence the term “gone viral”), the word vaccine is being torn in multiple directions.
From one perspective, the roll-out of vaccines is lauded as the best solution to a pandemic, in absence of other scientific breakthroughs. From another perspective, valid questions are being posed about the potential side-effects of this new vaccine technology, which is different to the original ‘vaccine’ methodology as described above and whether they are vaccines at all – prompting changes in definitions of the word as both language and immunisation science evolve.
In the meantime, all we can do is wait and see whether the vaccine rollout is achieved worldwide and limits the impact of this disease. Viruses can travel far, but so too can words. In the case of vaccines, both things are true.
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