How exactly vaccines work?

We all have been there. Remember, those painful shots & sore skin for days. Yes, we are talking about vaccines. However painful those shots were, we were never allowed to miss any of them. Any idea how exactly vaccines worked? No? Well, doesn’t matter. Now you will know it all.

We at Juniverse don’t keep any question unanswered because we believe in continuously upgrading ourselves through knowledge. Let’s understand how vaccines play their part in our wellbeing & health.

Our body has been built with all kinds of defence tools. A vaccine enters into our body & activates these tools for a future attack of viruses or bacteria. Vaccines are made using certain parts of the actual viruses & bacteria. These parts are entered into our system & antibodies present in our body recognize the possible threat from them. As soon as the threat is identified the antibodies aggressively attack them & destroy before any actual damage can occur. 

Now, you must be thinking what if the vaccine which has parts of an actual virus of bacteria does the damage. We need not worry about that. The vaccines carry a definite part of the virus or bacteria that are unable to cause the damage. Hence, our body can be prepared for viruses with the help of them only. 

History of Vaccines:

The very first vaccine was developed in 1797 by a scientist called Edward Jenner for smallpox. Also, smallpox is the only diseases which have been completely removed across the world. All other diseases continue to appear in different parts of the world. Since then the world has seen the development of various vaccines but still, there is a lot needs to be done.

One big challenge in development & research of new vaccines is the poor infrastructure & intention to research for long. Most of the widely spread diseases like malaria & HIV are troubling the poor countries. That is why most big pharmaceuticals companies present in developed nations don't show much interest in working for fighting against these illnesses.

We at Juniverse hope for a future where all the obstacles will be eliminated by our next generation. Many of you juniors will one day acquire knowledge & power to research for creating newer vaccines. Try to work hard & ensure that these vaccines are easily available to people suffering from illnesses in all parts of the world. Good health & wellbeing should not just be available to the rich & powerful but also for the poor & needy.