Vaccines

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There is lots of confusion in the minds of people regarding what vaccines are and how they work. The body has its own immune system i.e a system whereby the body produces an effective fighting force in the form of antibodies to fight infections. This is known as natural immunity. Vaccines produce another immunity based on the same principle. There are two types of vaccines. Inactivated and live attenuated. In the inactivated vaccine, the organism antigen is treated in such a way that it is not harmful to the body. It is inactivated. The body however recognizes it as an antigen. When injected in the body it produces an antibody response by the body. By antibody response means infection fighting ability of the body. The virus in this case is dead in the vaccine. Another vaccine is live attenuated vaccine. The virus/bacteria is treated in such a way that it loses its virulence i.e loses the strong harmful effect. However, the virus is live but does not cause disease.eg Polio vaccine. 


According to Dr Mubina Agboatwalla - Child Specialist in Karachi in both cases, the body retains the memory of the virus. So whenever the actual virus attacks the body, the memory is retained by the body and it immediately develops an antibody response to fight the infection. AS the result the child does not develop the disease or even if the child does develop the disease it is very mild. This is the basic principle of all vaccines including tuberculosis, typhoid, glu, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, measles as well as corona. To protect against diseases, get your child vaccinated.

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