What is a vaccine and how does it work?
Millions of lives, across the world, are saved each year because of a small but powerful collection of 10-20 different vaccines. These protect both children and adults from a whole range of otherwise life-threatening diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, measles, rabies, hepatitis, influenza, meningitis and yellow fever. Without vaccines, we would still be battling polio on a global scale and would still be living in fear of small pox across India. Vaccines are among the safest and most cost-effective public health tools that have shaped human well-being as we know it today. A vaccine works in a seemingly simple manner. The human body has a built-in mechanism to fight disease, which is called the immune system. In normal course, an individuals immune system learns how to protect him/her against a disease only after the body is exposed to the disease or infection once. But a vaccine stimulates the immune system to recognise the disease/infection in advance, by teaching the immune cells to
Vaccines prompt a baby’s natural immune system to make antibodies that will attack bad germs. A vaccine has parts of germs or whole germs that have been killed or made weak. These allow the body to make antibodies without getting the real disease. The only way your baby’s body can make antibodies is by getting the vaccine or the real germs. Can my baby’s immune system handle more than one vaccine at a time? Yes. Your baby’s immune system is amazing. Every day from birth a baby’s body naturally defends itself against thousands of germs you cannot see. Germs are in food, in the air, in water, and on objects. Getting four shots at one time uses only a very small part of your baby’s immune system for a short while, so it can guard against all the other germs too. Getting more than one shot at a time does not wear out the immune system. Your baby’s immune system works so well that your baby can get shots even when they have a cold, ear infection, low fever, or skin infection.
Millions of lives, across the world, are saved each year because of a small but powerful collection of 10-20 different vaccines. These protect both children and adults from a whole range of otherwise life-threatening diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, measles, rabies, hepatitis, influenza, meningitis and yellow fever. Without vaccines, we would still be battling polio on a global scale, and would still be living in fear of small pox across India. Vaccines are among the safest and most cost-effective public health tools that have shaped human well-being as we know it today. A vaccine works in a seemingly simple manner. The human body has a built-in mechanism to fight disease, which is called the immune system. In normal course, an individual’s immune system learns how to protect him/her against a disease only after the body is exposed to the disease or infection once. But a vaccine stimulates the immune system to recognize the disease/infection in advance, by teaching the immune cells t
