Vaccines are prepared with biological properties and administered through injections or oral suspensions. They help protect the body from diseases by improving or creating immunity to the particular disease in the vaccine given.
Vaccines have been around for hundreds of years and were first used to protect against smallpox. It was noted that individuals exposed to smallpox rarely got smallpox, which furthered the investigation into injecting a small amount of the disease into the body to help develop immunity.

More vaccines were introduced during the 19th and 20th centuries and they were successful as well at preventing infectious disease. The diseases used in vaccines are usually dead or simply inactivated. In some cases they may be live, depending on the vaccine. When it comes to vaccines there are four traditional types. The first is a live vaccine. Common live vaccines are for rubella, mumps, measles, and yellow fever. Another type of vaccine used contains microorganisms that have been killed through heat or with chemicals. Vaccines of this nature are for the flue, hepatitis A, bubonic plague, or cholera. Toxoids are a third type of vaccine. These are for diphtheria and tetanus. The fourth type of vaccine is called subunit. These include portions of the microorganism, which can create an immune response, too. An example is the new HPV vaccine.

Many new vaccines are in the testing stages. Some of the vaccines being tested include a DNA vaccine, conjugates, recombinants, and others.

Immunity

Vaccines create immunity because when they are introduced into the body the body recognizes them as foreign agents. It attacks them, destroys them, and then remembers what they were. Therefore, when the body is exposed to the disease in real life the body is able to immediately respond by attacking and destroying the cells and keeping them from multiplying.

Vaccines work because they have resulted in the eradication of many diseases and significant reduction of others. For example, smallpox has been eradicated while other disease have been reduced significantly including chickenpox, measles, rubella, polio, mumps, and even typhoid. These diseases are not common like they were just 100 years ago which proves the vaccines are working.

Vaccines work because when the vast majority of people are vaccinated there is a herd immunity. This means an outbreak cannot occur and it is very difficult for a disease to spread.

Posted in Health and Well-Being

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