‘Vaccine’ declared word of the year by online dictionary after search surge

WITH an expanded definition to reflect the times, dictionary publisher Merriam-webster has declared “vaccine” its 2021 word of the year.

“This was a word that was extremely high in our data every single day in 2021,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-webster’s editor-at-large.

“It really represents two different stories. One is the science story, which is this remarkable speed with which the vaccines were developed. But there’s also the debates regarding policy, politics and political affiliation. It’s one word that carries these two huge stories.”

The selection follows “vax” as word of the year from the publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary. And it comes after Merriamwebster chose “pandemic” as the top word in terms of searches last year on its online site.

“The pandemic was the gun going off and now we have the aftereffects,” said Mr Sokolowski.

At Merriam-webster, searches for “vaccine” increased 601 per cent over 2020, when the first US jab was administered in

New York in December, and

months of speculation and discussion over efficacy. The world’s first jab occurred earlier that month in the UK.

Compared to 2019, when there was little urgency or chatter about vaccines, Merriam-webster logged an increase of 1,048% in searches this year.

Debates over inequitable distribution, vaccine mandates and boosters kept interest high, Mr Sokolowski said. So did vaccine hesitancy and friction over vaccine passports.

The first known use of the word “vaccine” stretches back to 1882 but references pop up earlier related to fluid from cowpox pustules used in inoculations, Mr Sokolowski said.

Inoculation, on the other hand, dates to 1714, in one sense referring to the act of injecting an “inoculum”.