What are vaccines and how do they prevent diseases in detail
Answers
The diseases vaccines prevent can be dangerous, or even deadly. Vaccines reduce your child's risk of infection by working with their body's natural defenses to help them safely develop immunity to disease. When germs, such as bacteria or viruses, invade the body, they attack and multiply.
When germs, such as bacteria or viruses, invade the body, they attack and multiply. This invasion is called an infection, and the infection is what causes illness. The immune system then has to fight the infection. Once it fights off the infection, the body has a supply of cells that help recognize and fight that disease in the future. These supplies of cells are called antibodies.
Vaccines help develop immunity by imitating an infection, but this “imitation” infection does not cause illness. Instead it causes the immune system to develop the same response as it does to a real infection so the body can recognize and fight the vaccine-preventable disease in the future. Sometimes, after getting a vaccine, the imitation infection can cause minor symptoms, such as fever. Such minor symptoms are normal and should be expected as the body builds immunity.
As children get older, they require additional doses of some vaccines for best protection. Older kids also need protection against additional diseases they may encounter.