Vaccination, also known as immunization, is a process where an individual’s body is trained to produce strong antibodies that help fight diseases. Vaccination can be given orally or injected. All infants are vaccinated against hepatitis B twelve hours after birth. Hepatitis B is one of the most important vaccinations given to every child in case the family lineage of the infant has a history of Hepatitis B to protect the child. This paper intends to discuss how vaccines work and whether they are safe or not.
Question one
The immune system is made up of many cells that protect the body against bacterial, fungi, and virus infections (Sompayrac, 2019). The infection enters the body by a skin breach that may be caused by a cut from a sharp object. Vaccines can be live vaccines, inactivated vaccines, DNA vaccines, recombinant vector vaccines, toxoid
vaccines, and conjugate vaccines. A vaccine is a kind of drug that instructs the body cells how to recognize and oppose an infection in the body. The aim of immunization is to introduce certain antigens to an individual’s body while not causing sickness to the individual. For a vaccine to work, it must be injected in the body to activate an immune response (Sell, 2019).
Question two
Vaccines have advantages and disadvantages (Mabbott, 2015). Live vaccines, which involve the injection of live pathogens in the body, that fight viruses, and bacteria, may cause lifelong immunity by only single or double doses, which is an advantage. However, people with terminal conditions have very weak immunity and by introducing live vaccines may strengthen the pathogen making the patient sick. Although inactivated vaccines which involves the injection of dead cells, have no chance of the virus evolving back to disease-causing form, it may take a longer time and high doses to effectively boost the body’s immune system. Conjugate vaccines involve separating specific parts of a pathogen and a small amount injected into an individual. The problem is not all vaccines can be separated.
To conclude, vaccination and immunization is very important to strengthen antibodies. Without a proper vaccination, an infection can overpower body cells leading to sickness and sometimes, death. The first immunization dosage is given 12 hours after birth. Vaccination is found in health centers and every disease has a specific vaccination.
References
Mabbott, N. A. (2015). Prospects for safe and effective vaccines against prion
diseases.
Sell, S. (2019). How vaccines work: immune effector mechanisms and designer
vaccines. Expert review of vaccines, 18(10), 993-1015.
Sompayrac, L. M. (2019). How the immune system works. John Wiley & Sons.
