Vaccinating for a brighter future

 

A pathogen is a bacterium, virus, parasite, or fungus that can cause disease within the body. Each pathogen is made up of several subparts, usually unique to that specific pathogen and the disease it causes. The subpart of a pathogen that causes the formation of antibodies is called an antigen. The antibodies produced in response to the pathogen’s antigen are an important part of the immune system. You can consider antibodies as the soldiers in your body’s defense system. Each antibody, or soldier, in our system is trained to recognize one specific antigen. We have thousands of different antibodies in our bodies. When the human body is exposed to an antigen for the first time, it takes time for the immune system to respond and produce antibodies specific to that antigen.  In the meantime, the person is susceptible to becoming ill.  Once the antigen-specific antibodies are produced, they work with the rest of the immune system to destroy the pathogen and stop the disease. Antibodies to one pathogen generally do not protect against another pathogen except when two pathogens are very similar to each other, like cousins. Once the body produces antibodies in its primary response to an antigen, it also creates antibody-producing memory cells, which remain alive even after the pathogen is defeated by the antibodies. If the body is exposed to the same pathogen more than once, the antibody response is much faster and more effective than the first time around because the memory cells are at the ready to pump out antibodies against that antigen. This means that if the person is exposed to the dangerous pathogen in the future, their immune system will be able to respond immediately, protecting against disease. So, in short, a vaccine is injecting a less lethal version of the Virus and making your immune system remember it so that when the real attack happens your immune system knows how to defeat it.

 

Vaccines to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are perhaps the best hope for ending the pandemic. Equitable access to safe and effective vaccines is critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is hugely encouraging to see so many vaccines proving and going into development. I think that if we do not have allergies to the vaccines, we should go and get injected one now so that we can help the society go back to normal. Side effects are always present in vaccines, but we have no choice, it’s either we sit and watch the pandemic go on for years or do something about it. But it’s not vaccines that will stop the pandemic, it’s vaccination. Safe and effective vaccines are a game-changing tool: but for the foreseeable future we must continue wearing masks, cleaning our hands, ensuring good ventilation indoors, physically distancing and avoiding crowds. Being vaccinated does not mean that we can throw caution to the wind and put ourselves and others at risk, particularly because research is still ongoing into how much vaccines protect not only against disease but also against infection and transmission. We must ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines, and ensure every country receives them and can roll them out to protect their people, starting with the most vulnerable.

 

Do our part and get vaccinated now, listen to the rules set by our government. Wear Face mask and shield, avoid mass gatherings. If we want to end the pandemic, we should start with ourselves.

 

Photo 1:How mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna work, why they're a breakthrough and why they need to be kept so cold (yahoo.com).