Vaccines: A Simple Tool with a Big Impact

By: Sruthisarah Ashokkumar-

Getting sick is something everyone wants to avoid because people might miss out on special events, work days or school. So everyone turns to the best alternative to home remedies: vaccines. Vaccines are one of the most imperative factors that keep a human healthy and safe from disease-prone surroundings. They are a tool that helps train the body’s immune system to recognize and fight harmful pathogens without causing a full-blown catastrophe to occur within the body. Here’s how they work: they operate on a simple regimen of injecting a harmless version of the pathogen, often called the antigen, into the body that coerces the immune system to produce antibodies. This routine procedure that forms the basic foundation of every vaccine is used to prevent disease from occurring when the real pathogens strikes, therefore reducing its initial severity.

There are several types of vaccines,including live-attenuated, inactivated,protein-based, and mRNA vaccines. Every type of vaccine has a common purpose: benefit the individual as well as the larger community. In particular, I am talking about herd immunity: when a large portion of a community is vaccinated. This type of immunity allows the prevention of the spread of disease as well as protecting those who can’t receive vaccinations such as infants, elderly people or individuals with weakened immune systems. Being vaccinated as a community not only prevents severe spread of disease but also reduces the chances of outbreaks when a disease occurs.

While vaccines help humans be safe, vaccines themselves go through rigorous testing so they are safe to use and administer to humans. Although there are some minor side effects that come along with being vaccinated such as soreness around the injection site or mild fever, serious complications are extremely rare. So every myth about vaccines shouldn’t be treated as sole deciders on whether an individual should be vaccinated or not.

In conclusion, vaccines have the ability to save lives and keep everyone else healthy. These tools that healthcare has gifted us should be cherished as they enhance the way we live without having to think about disease lurking around the corner. Vaccination is not only a personal choice but a responsibility as a community to keep others safe as well. By being vaccinated, we help others by first helping ourselves to prevent the spread of disease and ensure that future generations can live in a safer and healthier world.

Helpful link:https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/vaccines-and-immunization-what-is-vaccination