Vaccines are really important in keeping us healthy. They work by helping our immune system learn how to fight off diseases. Unlike regular medicines, which can help you feel better when you’re sick, vaccines are meant to prevent you from getting sick in the first place.

What You Should Know About Vaccines

1. Types of Vaccines:

   • Inactivated vaccines: These have germs that have been killed (like the polio vaccine).
   • Live attenuated vaccines: These use weaker forms of the germs (like the ones for measles, mumps, and rubella).
   • Subunit, recombinant, or conjugate vaccines: These contain bits of the germ (like vaccines for hepatitis B and HPV).
   • mRNA and viral vector vaccines: These are new kinds of vaccines that were made quickly (like the COVID-19 vaccines).

2. When to Use Vaccines:

   • Vaccines are used to help stop diseases rather than cure them. Some common ones are:
     • Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (sometimes called DTaP)
     • Flu (Influenza)
     • Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
     • Pneumococcal disease
   • For example, the CDC recommends that more than 70% of kids should get the MMR vaccine by the time they are 2 years old to help prevent measles, mumps, and rubella.

3. How Well Do Vaccines Work?:

   • Vaccines can reduce the number of diseases we can prevent by up to 90% in groups of people who get vaccinated.
   • The World Health Organization says that vaccination programs save about 2-3 million lives every year from diseases like measles and diphtheria.

4. When Not to Vaccinate:

   • Some reasons to avoid vaccines include:
     • Bad allergic reactions to any part of a vaccine.
     • Having a weakened immune system (which is particularly important for live vaccines).
   • It’s often advised to wait on certain live vaccines for people getting treatments that weaken their immune system.

5. Impact on Public Health:

   • Vaccination has helped get rid of smallpox and has greatly reduced diseases like polio, with cases dropping by over 99% since 1988.
   • To keep everyone safe, about 95% of people need to be vaccinated against measles to stop outbreaks from happening.

In Conclusion

In short, vaccines are special tools used in healthcare that focus on preventing illness and keeping communities healthy. Their use has changed how we approach public health, showing how important vaccines are in reducing sickness and death from infectious diseases. As we keep making advancements in this field, it’s crucial to keep vaccination rates high to control outbreaks and protect those who are more vulnerable.