Vaccines: An Obvious Benefit

Vaccines: An Obvious Benefit

Vaccination is defined as an injection of a killed virus or bacteria creating immunity against pathogens, which stimulate the body to produce antibodies against more dangerous forms (Morehead, 2006, p. 757). The purpose of vaccinations is to limit the spread of communicable, infectious diseases. Vaccines operate by exposing the body to viruses or bacteria cells that have been weakened or killed. Our immune system gains knowledge of these viruses or bacteria cells and produces antibodies to attack and destroy them. When the viruses or bacteria cells are weakened and killed, specific antibodies will remain in the body. In the future when your body is exposed to these pathogens, your immune system will recognize the virus or bacterial cells and successfully destroy the pathogen. This report will explore the history, general aspects, benefits, and side effects of vaccinations.

History of Vaccination:

Vaccines have been a huge part of the fight against disease for more than 200 years. The Chinese implemented a procedure using a preparation of dried small pox scabs and deliberately infected young children. By doing so, they successfully succeeded in plummeting the populations overall morbidity and mortality from the disease. The news of this procedure, called variolation spread rapidly and the technique was widely implemented westward through central Asia (Bauman, 2011, p. 491).

Lady Mary Montagu (1689-1762) was married to a Turkey ambassador; she had been disfigured by small pox at the age of 26 and was left with many scars on her face. Mary learned about the variolation procedure upon her arrival in Turkey and was anxious to have it performed on her children, and she told many others about this procedure upon returning to England in 1721. As a result, returning to England, Lady Montagu began copious efforts at public education about vaccination. Over time, the procedure caused death in 1-2% of recipients and this procedure was soon was outlawed (Bauman, 2011, p. Pg. 491).

Small pox devastated mankind for centuries, until the remarkable work demonstrated by Edward Jenner in 1796. Jenner is widely accredited by his ground-breaking invention of the smallpox vaccination. His medical innovation saved more lives than the work of any other man before the era of antibiotics. For many years after that, vaccination against smallpox was widely practiced. In 1879, Louis Pasteur built on the work of Jenner and contributed to develop more vaccines. Pasteur demonstrated that most infectious diseases are caused by microorganism. Knowing this, he experimented with many different microorganisms and created a vaccine for rabies and anthrax.

Vaccine-Preventable Diseases:

Vaccine preventable diseases are at an all time low. Development in biomedical study, expertise, and government assistance for more publicly funded vaccination programs is contributing to make this feasible. Vaccines have provided the most successful, enduring method of preventing infectious diseases in all age groups. Vaccinations protect against the following preventable diseases: Varicella, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Cervical Cancer, Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Haemophilus Influenza B, HPV, H1N1 Flu, Influenza, Lyme disease, Meningococcal, Pneumococcal, and Rabies.

Types of Vaccines:

Scientists are constantly developing vaccinations. The essential types of vaccinations are inactivated (killed) vaccines, attenuated (live) vaccines, toxoid vaccines, combination vaccines, and recombinant gene vaccines.

* Inactivated (killed) vaccines: inoculums containing either whole agents or subunits and often adjuvant.

* Attenuated (live) vaccines: inoculums in which pathogens are weakened so that, theoretically, they no longer cause disease; residual virulence can be a problem.

* Toxoid vaccines: inoculums using modified toxins to stimulate antibody mediated immunity. e.g. tetanus and diphtheria

* Combination vaccines: inoculums composed of antigens from several pathogens that are