How Do Vaccines Work?

Our body has its own ways to defend itself against bad organisms that cause disease, and these organisms are called Pathogen. When pathogens enter our body, our internal defence is triggered and attack the bad organism. This is what we called Immunity System, they might win or lose the battle.

To help our immunity system win a war against pathogens, we can "train" our antibodies to recognize a specific antigen. Antibodies itself produced in response to the pathogen's antigen, in which means a subpart of the pathogen that causes formation of the antibodies.

 

How Do Vaccines Work
Vaccines reduce risks of getting a disease by working your body's immunity system to build protection. When we are exposed to an antigen for the first time, it takes some time for our immune system to recognize, respond, and produce antibodies for that specific antigen.

 

But, once the antibodies are produced to that specific antigen, they will destroy and stop the disease. Not only that, it also creates memory cells, means if the body exposed to the same pathogen, the antibody's response is faster and much more effective than the first time.

What Is Vaccines

In short answer, it's a precaution. Vaccine is a preparation to get our antibodies ready for the diseases that will harm us. It contains weakened or inactive parts of the antigen that still triggers our immune system to response.

 

This weakened antigen was designed to not cause disease to the person receiving the vaccine. Think of it as a training for the immune system to respond, and recognize the actual pathogens. Vaccines are safe and quite effective to fight infectious disease. 

 

Although, some people might have common side effects, such as fever, arm sore, or pain around the injection site. Some vaccines also require multiple shot, usually weeks or months apart. The reason is to allow the production of the antibodies and the development of the memory cells.

 

Herd Immunity
Unfortunately, not everyone can receive vaccines. The reason could be because they're under certain medical treatment, or have a health condition that disrupt their immune system. This is of course dangerous for them, however, we can still help them with the method of herd immunity.

In order for herd immunity to work, a high percentage of the community needs to be vaccinated. If the vaccination rates are not high enough, it will leave the vulnerable at greater risk of catching the disease.

The reason is, if only few people are vaccinated, when one person get infected, the disease will spread quite fast. But if most of the people are vaccinated, the disease can't spread far.

In other words, by vaccinating your child, you protect them and also those who are not lucky enough and vulnerable in the community.