Difference in meaning between 'inoculation' and 'vaccination'.

[Tan Elaine]

What is the difference in meaning between 'inoculation' and 'vaccination'?

Their definitions make me wonder whether they have the same meaning.

Thanks.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

NOT A TEACHER

To quote bhaisahab from a different thread:

This is not really a language question, it's a medical/scientific question.

Vaccination versus inoculation

Many times these words are used interchangeably, as if they were synonyms. In fact, they are different things. As doctor Byron Plant explains: "Vaccination is the more commonly used term, which actually consists of a "safe" injection of a sample taken from a cow suffering from cowpox... Inoculation, a practice probably as old as the disease itself, is the injection of the variola virus taken from a pustule or scab of a smallpox sufferer into the superficial layers of the skin, commonly on the upper arm of the subject. Often inoculation was done "arm to arm" or less effectively "scab to arm"...

Vaccination - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[abaka]

Vaccination originally referred to being injected with cowpox serum to prevent smallpox. The Latin for "cow" is "vacca".

Inoculation was an even older method of fighting the same disease, and referred to being injected with live smallpox serum taken from a patient who had already gotten largely over the smallpox.

Today, the two words often refer to any injection made against any disease. If there's any difference in usage, "vaccination" refers to preventative injections, like childhood dip/tet shots, while "inoculation" refers both to preventative shots and also to treatments subsequent to infection, for example snake-bite anti-toxin.

PS, oops, someone beat me to it. :-D

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello.:-D
In addition to Chicken Sandwich('s?) and abaka's answers,
I've found this: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/144469-innoculation-vaccination-injection-shot.html
It's in "Similar Threads" below.
Rover has provided us with an excellent link there.
It might shed more light on your query.

 

[birdeen's call]

Tan Elaine, Wikipedia is a great place to look for answers to questions like yours.