Explaining how jabs work
Immunity from a disease occurs naturally when, for example, your child catches an infectious disease such as chicken pox. Your child’s immune system launches an assault on the virus by forming antibodies against it. After the immune system has destroyed the infection, the symptoms of the disease disappear, leaving the antibodies to guard the body to prevent further invasion by the same enemy.
Immunisation works by introducing a particular virus or bacterium (or part of it) artificially, so that your child’s body develops antibodies against it without actually developing the illness. A vaccine contains a version of the virus or bacterium and tricks the immune system into reacting as though it had met the real thing. White blood cells then make antibodies to the germs and remain in the body, ready to annihilate the real germs should they ever arrive. Your child won’t actually develop the infection when she’s immunised because the virus or bacterium has been pre-treated to make it harmless.
A number of vaccines, such as the pneumococcal vaccine, are made from an inactivated version of the germ. The pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine is made from proteins from the skin of the virus. When the body develops immunity to these proteins it protects it against the whole germ if it comes into contact with it. Still others, such as diphtheria and tetanus vaccines, are made from small doses of the toxins that these germs produce.
Others, known as live vaccines, such as measles, mumps, and rubella, contain a weakened strain of the disease-causing bacterium itself.
Posted in Vaccination (Children)
