How Vaccines Work: Understanding the Science Behind Immunization

Introduction

Vaccines have revolutionized public health, saving millions of lives every year. But how exactly do they work? At SmarTest Labs, we believe in empowering you with knowledge. Let’s dive into the science behind vaccines and understand how immunization shields you from serious diseases and extends lives.

What Are Vaccines?

What is the definition of vaccines?

Vaccines are a simple and safe method to protect you against diseases before you contract the disease. It provides a person’s immune system with antibodies that help fight viruses or bacteria. They are not the cause of the disease.

History of vaccines

The act of vaccinating a person creates immunization of the person. This has been a global success story and saves millions of  lives every year. We currently have over 30 diseases that have provided a person immunization and saved lives and live longer healthier lives.

Vaccines were started in the 18^th. Century. Vaccines development was initiated in a laboratory-controlled environment in the 19^th. Century. It was only in the 20^th. century that vaccine development was based on immunologic markers and further the science developed molecular biology for more enhanced development of vaccines.

Smallpox vaccine developed in the 18^th. century was a great start for controlling the spread and death of the disease. This was followed in the 19^th. Century by Rabies, typhoid, cholera and the Plague.

The 20^th. Century developed vaccines for Tuberculosis, Yellow Fever, Influenza, Tetanus, Diphtheria and Rickettsia followed later in the century by Measles, Mumps and Rubella, Polio, Typhoid, Varicella, cholera, Hepatitis A & B, Cholera and many more.

The growth and sophistication of vaccines further added vaccines like Human Papillomavirus, Pneumococcal conjugates, Zoster.

How the Immune System Works

The immune system in the human body works in the background and protects the body from substances, germs and cell changes that could create illness. Most people do not recognize the immune system and how it functions daily until it stops working.

• Innate vs adaptive immunity

The immune system depends on the innate and adaptive immunity to function. The innate immune system works to fight harmful bacteria or viruses that enter the body either through the skin or the digestive system.

The adaptive immune system is where the antibodies are created. These antibodies are what fights the entry of viruses, bacteria or germs that the person is exposed to. This process of fighting viruses and bacteria allow the body to develop a learning pattern to fight any new viruses, bacteria that enter the human body.

• Role of antibodies and memory cells & how the human body fights infection

Immunology is a process in the human  body that provides storage of information on viruses, bacteria and other pathogens. This storage process helps the human body fight against pathogens creating immunity to the person. This process is critical in vaccine administration and how it protects the human body as it creates antibodies that continuously fight disease creating natural immunity.

When your immune system is functioning correctly it keeps the body in balance and informs the human body on the difference between unwanted cells and your normal cells. The process of immunization activates processes that kills germs and pathogens that could harm a person. It creates antibodies that give ongoing protection. Vaccines are critical in helping manage a person’s immune system.

The B lymphocytes and T cells play are part of the immune system that create antibodies. These lymphocytes provide antibodies to protect a person from viruses and germs. The B cells create the antibodies, and the T cells kill the germs by destroying the infected cells.

This process creates memory cells that help the human body remember the pathogen in the event it re-enters the body and fights against the virus or germs. This protects the human body in the future from the disease and creates natural immunity.

How Vaccines Train Your Immune System

• How vaccines mimic infections without causing illness

Vaccines work to create an environment that imitates an infection. This makes the human body learn how to cope with any disease. Vaccine induced immunity introduces a weakened form of the disease organism that kills the pathogen if it enters the human body and defends it from getting the disease.

• Step-by-step: What happens after a vaccine is injected

Vaccines contain a weakened part of a virus called an antigen. This triggers the human body to initiate the immune system within a body. The inactive parts of an organism trigger the immune system of the human body. This weakened version of the vaccine does not cause the disease  as it protects a person from and creates the body’s immune system to react to the disease. This protects the person from contracting the disease. The human body stores the antigen which then helps ward off future exposure of the body.

• The concept of immune memory

The concept of innate memory cells  relates to the human body’s ability to react to a pathogen naturally. There is no training of the body required by use of a vaccine. The acquired immunity response relates to white blood cells that cannot react to a pathogen. Vaccines play a large part in retaining the defense mechanism in the human body against pathogens, viruses and bacteria. This memory training is termed acquitted immunity. Vaccines protect a person from many diseases and are critical for your health and longevity.

Common Types of Vaccines and How They Work

• Inactivated vaccines

There are multiple versions of inactivated vaccines. They protect you from the following diseases:

• Flu

The flu vaccine helps protect individuals from the flu annually. The vaccine creates antibodies in the human body about two weeks after the vaccine is administered. The vaccine protects a person from the influenza A(H1N1) Virus, A(H3N2) Virus and the B/Victoria Virus.

• Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A should be administered to individuals who are travelling internationally, men who have sex with men, individuals who are using intravenous drugs, people in professions who are potentially highly exposed, individuals who are homeless. The vaccine activates the lymphocytes which stores the Hepatitis A antigen which in turn stimulate the B and T cells that attacks the virus.  The antibody from the vaccine helps protect an individual from the disease by creating antibodies against the disease.

• Polio

The Inactive Polio Vaccine (IVP) prevents poliomyelitis which is caused by a virus. The vaccine was developed in 1955.

The human body creates antibodies and creates protection. The vaccine is administered in four doses over 2 months, 4 months, 6 – 18 months and repeated at four to 6 years of age.

Without the vaccine the danger of polio if exposed can cause significant impacts even death to a person. The virus reproduces in the intestines, travels through the bloodstream and infects the brain and spinal cord. This causes paralysis of the human body.

Some of the side effects that are rare could include pain and redness, swelling of the injected site, Fever and allergic reaction (1 in 1 million doses).

• Rabies

Rabies is caused by a virus transmitted through a bite, scratch from an infected animal that might have rabies. The disease attacks the nervous system and the brain creating confusion and seizures followed by unconsciousness and a coma.

Louis Pasture developed the rabies vaccine in 1885. Getting a rabies vaccine soon after being exposed to rabies will initiate the human body’s fight against the disease. It initiated your immune system, to produce antibodies. The antibodies recognize pathogens, and viruses and attack them. The incubation period for rabies ranges from a few days to a couple of months before it shows symptoms. This is due to the fact that the virus has to travel to the brain to initiate the disease.

The vaccine should be administered to those who have been exposed to the disease. There is no danger of the vaccine. Rarely, there is the potential for pain around the injected area, some skin pigmentation and swelling.

Benefits of Immunization

Immunization saves lives and provides individual protection. This has been a proven science for decades substantiated with successful data. Many infectious diseases have been eradicated due to the invention of vaccines. It is a global success story saving millions of lives every year. It is a human right to receive vaccines and the most important health decision to initiate your journey in life and maintain good health and longevity.

Vaccines cause the human body to create antibodies, but they do not cause the disease as the strain of the virus or bacteria. As diseases are controlled through vaccines, the cost of health care related to the disease is also reduced. It further increases memory, protects the immune system from further infection, better child development and schooling opportunities creating productive outcomes.

Vaccination of communities creates what is known as heard immunity. When individuals are vaccinated, they are then protected from passing on the virus to others. This creates a ripple effect of protection through the community and help keeps the population healthy overall. This is a very effect method of preventing the spread of diseases.

 Myths vs Facts About Vaccines

There are several myths about vaccine safety. These misconceptions have been debunked through significant research and outcomes.

Vaccines do not cause autism or other diseases. In the United States and most parts of the world, vaccines there are significant safeguards implemented by law to protect individuals.

Vaccines are tested for safety through rigorous testing and evaluation before it can be deployed to the general population. All vaccines go through what is called a clinical trial which takes several years of testing. During this testing phase the vaccine is tested on individuals who become volunteers to receive the vaccine. The sample of the clinical trial is gradually increased in scope of volunteers to make sure that all aspects of the population are covered.

After the vaccine is released as safe for administering to the general population, it continues to be monitored to ensure the vaccine works as tested and remains sterile and safe. They are measured and monitored continuously using data from individual health records to assess vaccine safety. In the United States this is conducted weekly through Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and health care organization.  If predefined adverse effects are found in the than the control group that have been vaccinated, further analysis is conducted to determine cause.

An example of vaccine safety seen in the myths of vaccine caused autism has been published by the CDC. The study shows that there is no link between vaccines and autism and the information is available for public view.

The following link will provide you with information on the safety of the vaccine (source CDC).

https://archive.cdc.gov/ – /details?url=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/study-risk-autism.html

https://archive.cdc.gov/ – /details?url=https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/environmental-exposures.html

This study has data to demonstrate the importance of vaccination and debunks the myths of autism and vaccine administration to children. Vaccines are just as safe for adults.

Who Should Get Vaccinated?

The tables below show some examples of key immunization schedules and when they should be administered. It is not a comprehensive list. SmarTest Labs can provide more information on other requested vaccines and the schedules for each. Please call us at 301-686-8566 for additional information.

Adult Vaccination (adults should be up to date with the following vaccines)

Vaccine Type	19 – 26 years	27 – 49 years	50 – 64 years	60 and above
COVID-19	Annual Updates as COVID strains change	Annual Updates as COVID strains change	Annual Updates as COVID strains change	Annual Updates as COVID strains change
Flu Vaccine	Annual Vaccine	Annual Vaccine	Annual Vaccine	Annual Vaccine
Chicken Pox	2 doses for those who have never received the vaccine
Hepatitis B	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended until age 59
MMR	Depending on presumptive evidence wither one or 2 doses.	Depending on presumptive evidence wither one or 2 doses.	Depending on presumptive evidence wither one or 2 doses.
Tdap	Booster every 10 years after adolescent vaccine. Pregnant women should receive the vaccine at 27 – 36 weeks.	Booster every 10 years after adolescent vaccine. Pregnant women should receive the vaccine at 27 – 36 weeks.	Booster every 10 years after adolescent vaccine. Pregnant women should receive the vaccine at 27 – 36 weeks.	Booster every 10 years after adolescent vaccine. Pregnant women should receive the vaccine at 27 – 36 weeks.
Pneumococcal			Recommended for those who have not received the vaccine in the past.	Recommended for those who have not received the vaccine in the past.
Shingles			Two doses of the vaccine is recommended	Two doses of the vaccine is recommended

 

Conclusion

Vaccines are proven to be safe. The myth that vaccines negatively impact the human body have been debunked with supporting data and evidence that vaccines are safe. The research and science behind vaccine development are sound and well tested.  It is important to get vaccinated.

Please vaccinate your children and adults as necessary. At SmarTest Labs can provide you with additional information and guidance on the vaccines that we required to continue your good health and your children’s health. To book an appointment please call us at 301-686-8566 for additional information and guidance.

Please review our service page for more information.

https://smartestlabs.com/business-testing/ – vaccination-and-immunization