Vaccines Explained
Vaccines (vaccinations) are arguably the single most important and impactful medical milestones made in the history of mankind. The only potential competition for this top spot would be antibiotics, which you can read about here. Vaccines have saved millions of lives since their invention in 1797. The goal of this post is to simply explain what vaccines are in a way that is easily understood. Let’s get into it.
So what are vaccines?
Vaccines prepare our body’s military (the immune system) to quickly identify and destroy specific germs before they can infect us and make us sick. If an infection is a house fire, vaccines are the small fire extinguisher that puts the initial flame out quickly before it’s a blazing inferno requiring the entire fire department. Once your house is in flames, your only option is to try and limit the damage that’s already done to your house.
Additionally, there’s the danger of your house fire catching your neighbor’s house on fire too. Similarly, vaccines not only keep us from getting sick, but they also keep us from spreading the illness to those around us. We have many ways of helping our bodies fight illness and get better; however, vaccines protect us from getting ill in the first place. Prevention is particularly helpful in the case of viruses, since we are limited on things we can do to help our bodies once they’re infected with a virus. You can read more about viruses here.
Ok; so how do they work?
Training, that’s how. As in the fire analogy above, the better prepared you are to deal with fire, the less risk that your house will burn down. Installing smoke alarms for early detection, placing fire extinguishers strategically for rapid response, and training your family to use them may prevent a house fire altogether. To train your family, you might safely create a small fire outside so that they experience what fire looks like, smells like, and sounds like. Then you would teach them to use the fire extinguisher to put it out. Additionally, you may take them inside to the smoke detector and show them what it sounds like. Then, whenever they encounter an actual fire (hopefully they never do) they are prepared to put it out quickly. “I’ve seen this before. I know what to do.” This is what vaccines do for your body.
Usually, when your body encounters an enemy (bacteria, virus, fungi, etc.) it sends the body’s military to fight it. If this is the first time the military has fought this specific enemy it improvises and does its best to defeat it; this takes much time and effort. The military then uses that experience to learn about the enemy: what it looks like, smells like, and sounds like. Next time this particular enemy attacks, the body’s military recognizes it immediately and, now knowing the enemy’s weakness, the body eliminates the threat very quickly. This is called immunity. If you are immune to something, that means it’s very hard for it to make you sick. A similar analogy for immunity can be found under “normal operations” in this post.
It should be noted that immunity gained this way, naturally, is hard work for the body. Immediately after fending off a new germ the body is tired and weaker than normal. This provides an opportunity for a different germ to then swoop in and attack the body before it can recover from the previous fight. Imagine you’re a boxer and barely win a fight. Immediately, without any chance to recover, another boxer jumps in the ring to fight you. You probably won’t win the second fight because you’re already worn out. As you can see, although gaining immunity naturally works very well, it can be risky if your body doesn’t get a chance to recover.
Ever wonder why children are always getting sick? It’s because their body is fighting a lot of germs for the first time. But also because they’re gross and have terrible hygiene. 🙂
Vaccines allow our bodies to gain immunity by skipping this first risky step of getting attacked by an unknown enemy. Instead, vaccines allow for the body to train for the attack beforehand. They do this by tricking the body’s military into thinking it has encountered a serious enemy, when in reality it hasn’t. There are a few different ways vaccines do this:
- Take a living germ, beat it up and tie its hands behind its back, then inject it into the body. (live-attenuated vaccine)
- Kill the germ and inject the dead germ into the body. (inactivated vaccine)
- Steal the germ’s favorite outfit and inject that into the body. (recombinant vaccine)
- Steal the germ’s weapon and inject the weapon into the body. (toxoid vaccine)
- [Updated 1/3/2021] As of December 2020, there’s an entirely new type of vaccine called an mRNA vaccine. You can read about the first one of those ever right HERE!
Different types of vaccines are preferred in specific situations, but regardless, they all essentially do the same thing. They give the body something essentially harmless that the body’s military mistakes for the real deal. The military is able to quickly eliminate the threat and study the new enemy without expending too much energy. With this new knowledge the body develops immunity and is prepared for the next time it encounters that specific enemy. Then, when the actual dangerous germ tries to invade the body, the body’s military is prepared and ready to stop it before it is ever a problem, just like the family that practiced with a small fire outside.
For you sports fans, another decent analogy of vaccines is a football team. A vaccine is like studying the other team, watching tapes, and practicing plays BEFORE you square up against them on game day.
Makes sense. So are vaccines are 100% safe?
No, they’re not. Look, the purpose of this blog is to be honest with you and help teach you the truth. And the truth is that vaccines have some very serious side effects. For example, sometimes people become paralyzed or die because of a vaccine. No one is trying to hide that. In fact, you should know that there is nothing in the medical field that is 100% risk-free (post coming soon). However, the risk of a vaccine causing any serious harm is EXTREMELY low. Like, 1 in 100,000 or even 1 in 1,000,000 low (source). Compare that to a 1 in 2,700 chance of choking on food and dying (source). Could it happen? Absolutely. Will it happen? Very probably not.
There are also some common mild side effect from vaccines. These usually include things like low fever, rash, localized soreness from injection, and other things that are temporary inconveniences. All of these are hands-down much better than getting the actual disease they are vaccinating against.
Think of it this way. If someone were to decline a vaccine based on the incredibly small risk of a serious side effect, then he should also never get in a vehicle, walk on the sidewalk, swim, eat solid food, or talk back to his mother because a lot of people get killed doing those things every single day. So, are vaccines 100% safe? No. But they are significantly more than 99% safe, and they save millions of lives. Remember, the diseases we vaccinate against are often deadly. We’re not just vaccinating against the common cold here.
More food for thought: that antibiotic you take for that ear infection or sore throat is much more likely to harm you than any vaccine (do you overuse antibiotics?). That’s also true of basically any medication, or petting a dog, or leaving your house. You get the idea. Vaccines are not 100% safe. Nothing in this world is. But they’re as close as you’ll get. And the benefit is massive. Oh, and they’re really cheap.
Vaccines help you help others
Remember how vaccines are super safe, and everyone should get them? Well there are a very few people who should not receive certain vaccines. For example, their body’s military is too weak even for the “practice round” that a vaccine provides. Also, some people are allergic to certain vaccines. For these people the vaccine is more risky than normal. And since we don’t like to take unnecessary risk, we don’t recommend vaccines for these people. Therefore, they depend on the immunity of the vaccinated people around them for protection against certain germs. Remember that vaccines not only help you fight diseases, but they also prevent you from spreading diseases to others. If you stop the flame before it becomes a house fire, not only do you save your house, but you also prevent a fire engulfing your neighbor’s house. This aspect of vaccination is called, “herd immunity.”
I’ve heard some people are against vaccines. Why is that?
Because of lies, fake science, and the pursuit of ignorance. The “anti-vaccine movement” is a modern tragedy. We are beginning to see a reversal of over a century’s worth of positive progress against certain very serious and deadly diseases. However, this post is strictly about how vaccines work. You can read my post about the anti-vaccine movement here.
Learn more, stay humble, get vaccinated.
TL;DR: Vaccines are training for your body’s military. They are way safer than eating food and help you and your friends stay alive. Smart people get vaccinated (except for very rare cases).
