• Question: how does getting vaccinated help protect you from diseases?

    Asked by kanas047 to Alexis, Dr D, Jasmine, Mario on 26 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Andrew Devitt

      Andrew Devitt answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Brilliant question!

      So when you get an infection for the first time, your immune system has never seen this infection so you have no immunity. The immune response is also then a bit slow. So you get the disease and feel awful. Take chickenpox for example. You get covered in itchy blisters and can feel really poorly.

      But once you’ve recovered (fingers crossed!), you have better immunity to fight it the next time. So when you encounter the infection again, your immune response is quicker. BUT it is also better at fighting….your immune system gets better and better at fighting. This means you probably don’t even know you’ve been exposed to the infection. So this is why people say you can’t have chickenpox twice.

      So a vaccination, is to trick your immune system into thinking that you have that first infection so it generates a response. So that when you get the real infection, you respond quick and really well.

      The vaccines contain the bug that causes the infection but it has been killed or weakened. Or sometimes they only use a bit of the bug.

      Make sure you are all up to date with your vaccinations! Especially measles! This is a real killer disease that is on the rise again because some parents believed scare stories in the newspapers and decided not to have it.

    • Photo: Alexis Barr

      Alexis Barr answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      I think Andrew has already answered this question really well.

      Vaccines really are amazing. The first ever vaccine was used to protect against smallpox – invented by Edward Jenner back in 1798. He took a risk back then but it’s one that paid off. Smallpox has now been totally eradicated. Hopefully in the future more diseases will be eradicated too. Polio is very close to being the next disease to be eradicated.

    • Photo: Jasmine Penny

      Jasmine Penny answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Fantastic question and I think Andrew has explained it really well. There are different types of vaccine but the main two types are killed and attenuated. A killed vaccine is exactly what it says on the tin. It contains microbes that were once able to cause disease but have been killed so now can’t give you the disease. However the body will still recognise these dead microbes and will react to them. This prepares your body for another infection. When your body has an infection it will produce cells to deal with it – however this can take a while to get going. Once you have been vaccinated cells remember that they have seen this microbe before they produce the cells to attack it much quicker. Vaccines for influenza and polio are killed vaccines.

      The other type of vaccine contains live microorganisms which have been treated so that they no longer cause the disease. Like Andrew says this is like tricking the body into thinking it has become infected. Vaccines for tuberculosis and measles are attenuated.

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