Vaccines are
simple, safe, and effective ways to protect people from the disease before they
come into contact with it, which is why they are called vaccine preventable diseases
(4). Vaccines prevent them from happening, unlike most medicines that treat or
cure diseases (1). A vaccine is an injection that contains the pathogens that
is either the same or similar to the pathogen that cause the disease. The vaccine
never contains the full live virus but the weakened version, called live attenuated.
Other vaccines will contain part of the pathogens (1). Vaccines stimulates the
immune system in order to produce antibodies, this process would be same if
some were to be exposed to the actual disease (1, 4). However, vaccines provide
the protection without causing illness (4).
(3)
Overall vaccines
reduce the risk of getting disease that is able to be prevented with an injection
by working with the immune system to build protection (1,4). When a person is
vaccinated the immune system responds by recognizing the substance that is
injected, either the whole pathogen (live attenuated or inactivated), or parts
of the pathogen (examples are subunit or toxoid). The immune system will mount
a response and create antibodies, which are proteins that will fight of disease
(4). These antibodies are disease specific (2).
Refrences:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012, March 14). Basics of Vaccines. Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/vpd-vac-basics.html
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, March 10). Vaccines: Vac-Gen/Immunity Types. Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/immunity-types.htm
- Planned Parenthood. (2015, July 17). pink vaccine cartoon. Retrieved May 2, 2020, from http://advocatesaz.org/2015/08/05/teen-talk-gardasil-a-shot-of-prevention/pink-vaccine-cartoon/
- World Health Organization. (n.d.). Q&A on vaccines. Retrieved May 2, 2020, from https://www.who.int/vaccines/questions-and-answers
