How does a Vaccine Work?
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Vaccines help a body prepare in advance to fight illnesses and potentially deadly diseases. Essentially, vaccines give the body a preview of a bacterium, virus, or toxin, allowing it to learn how to defend itself in advance. If the body is ever invaded by that particular pathogen after the vaccine has done its work, the body’s immune system is ready.
Most vaccines are administered in the form of a shot or a liquid that is consumed by mouth. However, some vaccines are inhaled as aerosols or powders. The majority of vaccines contain viruses or bacteria that have been weakened or killed. Others contain inactivated toxins. In their altered states, vaccine pathogens are typically safe and unable to cause disease.
When a weakened or dead pathogen is introduced into the bloodstream, the body’s B-cells go to work. It is these cells that are responsible for fighting disease-causing pathogens. Once the B-cells are stimulated to act, antibodies are formed and the body develops immunity to the particular pathogen. Once a person receives a vaccine and develops immunity, he or she is usually protected for life.
Sometimes vaccines do not provide lifetime immunity. For example, some vaccines, such as tetanus and pertussis, are only effective for a limited amount of time. In such cases, booster shots are necessary to maintain continuous vaccine protection. These booster doses are given at specific intervals following the initial vaccination.
One vaccine, the flu vaccine, must be given every year. This is because there are many strains of the flu. A vaccine given in one year may provide protection against certain strains of the flu virus, but when the next year’s flu season starts, vaccination against newer or different strains may be required. Furthermore, flu vaccines do not provide protection for a lifetime. After as little as one year, protection may be far less than adequate.
Most human beings are born with a limited immunity to a variety of diseases. This immunity is the result of antibodies that are passed on to infants by their mothers. Unfortunately, these antibodies are only capable of protecting infants for about a year after birth. Additionally, there are many serious diseases for which infants do not receive antibodies from their mothers. To protect human beings from infancy into adulthood, many vaccines are given in the first months of life.
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14
What about those of us who can't have the immunizations? it damn near killed my son to have the mmr. he had severe seizures after it at 12 months. if that were your son how would you feel? I believe every parent should have the choice. we are not God. We act as god but in the end if we are going out, we are going out -- end of story. Don't be so judgmental. Everyone can have opinions without being mean. - anon62981
12
For those of you posting that vaccination is a load of crap, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Though there are some reported cases where vaccination has produced ill side-effects, for the majority vaccination is a way of saving lives.
A vaccination is a weakened, inactive, detoxified poison (such as the tetanus vaccination) or only the components of the pathogen that produce immunity. Thus when this is injected into you the B-cells produce the antibodies to fight of the infection. Because the vaccination is weakened, this is easy to do. The memory cells in your body then remember the antibodies required to fight a specific infection and thus when you get the real infection the body can act quickly to stop it. This means essentially that vaccination is a good thing and that when you are choosing to not vaccinate you are stopping the herd immunity effect, as mentioned by knittingpro, and also the chance to completely eradicate a potential disease, such as what happened with smallpox. - anon52627
11
but what about what happens after? - anon51769
10
I believe in knowledge. Knowledge is power. Educate yourself as much as possible and go with your gut feeling. Every parent is just trying to do what's best for their children. The blame game is not going to help anyone. It is a huge struggle because there is so much misguided information out there. Do not lean completely on your own understanding but also seek God for guidance. - anon50927
8
If your child is vaccinated then they should be protected regardless if someone else's child isn't vaccinated. You need to look into the history of vaccinations and autism. Not only that you should also look at the ingredients in a vaccine. You can look online for the list. Then i would advise you to look up all the side of effects of the ingredients. For example the preservative called amphotericin b which is a drug used to treat fungus infections. Side effects include blood clots, blood defects, kidney problems, nausea and fever. That is just one out of the many that they use. You tell me that i am being selfish because i'd rather not inject my child with this crap. My child is most likely healthier than your child because when you inject babies with all this preservatives at such a young age or any age it causes immune responses that that trigger allergies, learning disorders, autism and eczema. If you do the research you will find the truth. - anon49648
7
What is wrong with you people! Vaccines are there to help you! Because there is no cure yet, you get vaccinated, which sometimes is the cure! Because everyone else is immune and the disease is being controlled is the only reason why your kids are still alive! One day someone will be infected and no matter how much you deny it, its your fault! - anon48905
6
I wonder how many people claiming that vaccination is unnecessary are trained medical professionals? Do you actually know what you are talking about or are you just repeating something someone on Oprah told you? - anon47711
5
That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard "To not vaccinate your child is not just putting your own child at risk but will eventually put other people's children at risk also." Oh wait, no it's not, introducing vaccines in 1796 is. Where are you being spoon fed your information? It is commonly believed that the Salk vaccine was responsible for halting the polio epidemics that plagued American children in the 1940's and 1950's. If so, why did the epidemics also end in Europe, where polio vaccine was not so extensively used? When you or your child is vaccinated, you are injected with a laboratory altered form of that disease and thus have a possibility of passing it on to others. How cruel and inhumane of you to subject others to the disease. If you decide to vaccinate yourself and your child, keep them home for at least 48 hours so they don't infect others! - anon47062
4
Its amazing how stupid people are about how your body works and the false immunity from vaccines. - anon43319
3
However, you are trusting people who are hired by multi-million or billion dollar corporations to use these toxins appropriately. There is no sure way of knowing that the vaccines contain what they say they do or truly do what they say they do. The big protector against disease is our immune system, not the vaccines. Therefore, it would make more sense to try to boost our immune system without toxins and dead viruses. Anyone who says it can't be done or isn't worth looking into, is not thinking about human beings' best interest. Furthermore, a vaccine is supposed to reduce your risk of getting a vaccine, not prevent it. If it did prevent a virus, then it wouldn't matter if other people were immunized since the vaccine protects them from those infected. I think people put too much faith in a company that get profit off of treatment rather than prevention and cure. I'm not vaccinating myself and putting my individual health at risk (and my family's) because other people trust these big companies to inject dangerous ingredients into the people without questions. Meanwhile, after you get vaccinated, you are probably going go get a big mac, large fries and a frosty and go sit on the couch and watch American Idol. - anon40679
2
I agree that vaccines are helpful for everyone, because when one person gets a vaccine, it lowers the percentage of those who get ill. - anon20992
1
It seems like more and more parents are choosing not to vaccinate their children now, but that can actually be seen as a very selfish decision. The only reason their children are safe even though they are not vaccinated is because just about everyone else's children are vaccinated. It's the herd immunity effect.
To not vaccinate your child is not just putting your own child at risk but will eventually put other people's children at risk also. - knittingpro
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Written by
N. Madison
Last Modified: 07 February 2010
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