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1) There are two basic types of vaccines: virus (attenuated, live etc) that are made directly with the antigen (i.e. virus) and recombinants which are made with small bits of the virus…bits that through extensive testing are determined to be the most likely to provoke the most useful antibody response. Recombinants are considered to be the wave of the future because since its only small bits and not actual virus they are less likely to have side effects. 2) A vaccine is neither a chemical or drug but something entirely different. It is designed to train the immune system into making antigen specific antibodies . Once the vaccine enters the bloodstream it is attacked by the immune system. A good vaccine provokes enough of a response that the immune system will remember it on encountering it again, but not enough that they person actually get sick. Sometimes that happens and people have side effects similar to the actual disease. Sometimes it takes more than one exposure so that the immune system remembers it. Those vaccines require boosters. Vaccines DO NOT linger in the body the way a chemical does. Once the immune system is done “attacking” the vaccine, the now defunct complex of antibody-vaccine(waste product) is removed from the body by the spleen, the same way the body removes the killed virus/bacteria/pathogen of any infection we pick up. 3) Adjuvants. This is actually a technology that has been quite widely accepted and used for years. Some of them have very frightening complex chemical names. In truth, they are small molecules that are attached to the vaccines to “boost” the effect of the vaccine. A good adjuvant can make the need for boosters much less. Some adjuvants work better than others with certain vaccines. A lot of pre-clinical trial work in vaccine R+D is determining what adjuvant works best with a particular vaccine. Since it is attached (or conjugated is the technical term) directly to the vaccine, like the vaccine it is bound tightly in the antibody-vaccine complex which is eventually taken out of the system within a short period of time by the spleen. 4) Side effects- all vaccines have side effects. The thing with vaccines is that they work really really well. However since they stimulate the immune system, autoimmune problems can sometimes result from a vaccine. And sometimes people have undiscovered allergies to some of the compounds and that can cause difficulties as well. As mentioned above sometimes somebody just can’t handle some of the very potent vaccines (the live virus ones usually) and they get sick. Mostly its minor, flu like symptoms aches etc, minor fevers. Sometimes for unknown reasons the reactions are far more severe. No one can predict how individuals are going to react to a vaccine. However the serious reactions are very very small in terms of percentages of overall population. Cold comfort perhaps to the few individuals that have suffered a bad reaction but true none the less. The golden rule on vaccines are this: only healthy individuals are vaccinated. Anything less than healthy is asking for trouble. In fact, it is my OPINION that many of the serious side effects that individuals suffer are due to previously undetected underlying health issues. But that’s only speculation on my part.
Part 3 will be Vaccine misconceptions
Note to mods: I am aware most of these topics are now posted in health but I would like to see these posts remain in GD if at all possible Note to science geeks: I am aware that I have very much simplified some very complex science in an effort to communicate and inform. In other words, no nit picking, please!
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