Understanding Vaccines

Understanding Vaccines

Vaccines. Good? Bad? Beneficial? Or too Risky? Society has definitely gone back and forth trying to decide if we accept vaccines or if we are against them. The majority of the conversation centers around if we trust them to benefit us more than harm us. There are a number of benefits that come with using vaccines as a preventative medicine but there is also quite a bit of speculation saying vaccines can have long term effects that are harmful to our overall health. The best way to decide if we are for or against vaccines is to be educated about what they are and how they work. To start, we need to get a better understanding of the history behind vaccines and how they have progressed to what they are now.

The earliest evidence we have dates back to the 15th century, this is when we first realized there was a connection between exposure to a disease and the immunity that follows exposure. The ancient Chinese were said to have used pulverized smallpox scabs taken from the sick and were either inhaled or rubbed onto the skin in an effort to become immune.

In the 16th century, whooping cough, smallpox, and the measles were very common. These types of diseases that were very contagious spread very easily especially in crowded or dirty cities. Children were especially vulnerable since their immune system was less developed compared to an adult.

Jumping to the 18th century, we can see the evolution of the science behind immunity. During the 18th century, Europeans realized that survivors of certain infectious diseases were immune to future exposure. Because of this they began a sort of primitive form of inoculation by intentionally infecting themselves with a disease to gain immunity. This approach obviously had a high risk of sickness and death but it shed light on the basic principles behind immunology. This research enabled a British doctor Edward Jenner to develop the world’s first true vaccine. It was in 1796 when Jenner discovered “cow pox” as the first relatively safe vaccination against smallpox.

As we went into the 19th century, scientists used Jenner’s discoveries to push vaccines into the future. Scientists knew that it would be a huge breakthrough for medicine if they were able to find a way to strengthen our immune systems so we can avoid all of these diseases that killed so many people in our history.

Even as we went into the 20th century, infectious diseases still plagued our nations causing many deaths. But as time went on scientists continued to build on the immunological fundamentals laid down by previous scientists. Because of this, scientists went on to develop individual vaccinations for 27 major infectious diseases. By 2000, diseases that plagued our past like smallpox, yellow fever, polio, and measles were virtually eliminated from the developing world. Vaccines are now an important part of our growing population due to the creation of children’s immunization schedules. On a global scale, vaccines have helped reduce the amount of death caused by infectious diseases.

How do Vaccines actually work?

Well, our immune system uses several tools to help fight infections. Most of these tools are found in our blood. Everyone knows that our blood contains red and white cells.The red blood cells are used to carry oxygen around the body but the white blood cells come in different forms that each play a different role. Among those different types of white blood cells are Macrophages, B-lymphocytes, and T-lymphocytes. Macrophages can swallow up and digest germs and other dead/dying cells. B-lymphocytes are more of a defensive white blood cell; they produce antibodies that attack the antigens that are left behind by the macrophages. T-lymphocytes are also defensive cells that attack cells in the body that have already been infected.

When our bodies encounter a germ, it can take several days to make and use all the germ-fighting tools that are needed to get over an infection. This is why people can often get fevers because our white blood cells are fighting off the infection, which creates heat all throughout our body. Once we have fought and won against an infection, our immune system keeps a few of the T-lymphocytes and uses them as memory cells that will aid in detecting the same or similar infections. If any familiar antigens are detected using the memory cells then the B-lymphocytes will produce antibodies that will attack them.

With vaccines, they are designed to imitate the virus as closely as possible so that the immune system will develop the antibodies to combat the more harmful virus when the body comes into contact with it. The goal of the vaccine is to cause as little illness as possible, such symptoms as fever or fatigue may be experienced but this is the body’s natural response when building an immunity. The natural process of the body can cause a delayed response in building an immune response. It takes a few weeks for the immune system to create the T-Lymphocytes and B-Lymphocytes that defend against the Virus.

There are quite a bit of different myths about vaccines that are usually developed through concern. With medical professionals urging parents to vaccinate and a lack of understanding how vaccines are made or work, many tend to resist or find ways to convince themselves that there is something wrong.

Myth 1: Infant immune systems cannot handle so many different vaccines.

An infant’s immune system is alot stronger than most believe. Based on the number of antibodies presented in the blood of a baby, the baby would theoretically have the ability to respond to about 10,000 vaccines at one time. Even if all 14 vaccines were scheduled at once, it would only use up about 0.1% of the baby’s immune capacity. The immune system could never be overwhelmed because the cells in the system are constantly being replenished.

Myth 2: Natural immunity is better than vaccine-acquired immunity.

There is obvious proof that shows catching a disease and getting sick from it actually results in a stronger immunity to the disease compared to a vaccine. However, there are still many dangers that outweigh the relative benefits. There is a higher risk of dying from the disease compared to getting a vaccination for that disease.

Myth 3: Vaccines contain unsafe toxins.

One of the biggest concerns people have about vaccines is the use of formaldehyde, mercury, or aluminum in the vaccine. These chemicals are found in most vaccines and it is true that these chemicals can be toxic to the human body, however there are only trace amounts of these chemicals used in vaccines and each vaccine is FDA approved. According to the FDA and CDC, formaldehyde is produced at higher rates by our own metabolic systems so there is no scientific evidence that the low levels of these chemicals are harmful.

Myth 4: Vaccines can infect my child with the disease it is trying to prevent.

Vaccines can cause mild symptoms that resemble symptoms of the disease they are protecting against. A common misconception is that these symptoms are a direct result of being infected from the vaccine. The fact is that within the small percentage of people who do experience symptoms, they are just experiencing their own body’s immune response to the vaccine.

Myth 5: We don’t need to vaccinate because infection rates are already so low in the United States.

This is thanks to “herd immunity”, since such a large majority of the population is immunized in a population, even the unimmunized minority will be protected. An infection disease will never get a chance to establish itself and spread because there are so many people immune. There is always going to be a portion of the population that is unable to receive vaccines but if there are too many people who don’t vaccinate themselves or their children, they contribute to a collective danger, opening up different opportunities for viruses and bacteria to establish themselves and spread.