Vaccines are preventative medicine, they’re not cures. I’d say cures are something that eliminates a disease after it’s acquired. Vaccines do nothing if you’re already actively infected. Opium does not eliminate pain, it masks it temporarily, thus it’s not a cure. It’s a treatment.
I’d say arsphenamine, it was the first modern anti-microbial agent.
There was the cowpox vaccine in 1798
and I suppose we have had effective pain-control (opium) for a very long time
Vaccines are preventative medicine, they’re not cures. I’d say cures are something that eliminates a disease after it’s acquired. Vaccines do nothing if you’re already actively infected. Opium does not eliminate pain, it masks it temporarily, thus it’s not a cure. It’s a treatment.
I’d say arsphenamine, it was the first modern anti-microbial agent.