What Is A Vaccine: Definition, Types, Functions, and How It Works – Hearing the word vaccine or vaccination seems familiar to our ears. Especially for mothers who have new babies. However, there are still many people who do not really understand what the actual function of the vaccine is and how it works.
One thing is certain, the administration of vaccines is one of the most important and effective measures of self-protection against the transmission of infectious diseases.
There are at least 25 types of deadly infectious diseases, such as tetanus, measles, to polio and cervical cancer, which can be avoided through the administration of vaccines.
What Is A Vaccine?
Humans actually have an immune system that serves to fight foreign organisms such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites that enter the body.
However, the human immune system may not be sufficiently prepared or strong enough to fight certain types of diseases. This is where vaccines play an important role in disease prevention.
Vaccines are substances that are deliberately made from disease-causing microbes to stimulate the formation of immunity from certain diseases, so as to prevent infection from certain diseases.
Microbes in the vaccine content are versions that are dead or weakened. Some vaccines contain only a portion of the disease germs. Certain vaccines can be made from toxins or proteins that are usually produced by germs and are already weakened.
Once vaccinated, you will develop immunity to the disease without having to be exposed to the disease first.
The method of administering the vaccine is called vaccination. Vaccinations are usually carried out in local hospitals, clinics, or health centers.
There are currently 30 types of vaccines created since the concept of vaccination was first performed by Edward Jenner in 1796.
Evidence of vaccine success was the destruction of Variola disease (small pox) in 1979. Now we are also in an effort to eradicate measles and polio.
What is vaccines types?
Below are some types of vaccines:
Live Attenuated Vaccine
Is a type of vaccine that contains living microorganisms such as bacteria or viruses. Microorganisms used have been eliminated first virulence properties. This type of vaccine provides a long immune response.
Examples of these vaccines include polio vaccine (sabin), MMR (Measles, mumps and rubella), tuberculosis, typhoid fever, measles, mumps, and chicken pox (varicella).
Innactivated Vaccine (Killed Vaccine)
It is a vaccine derived from microorganisms that have been killed (either in the form of bacteria or in the form of viruses) using chemical substances or by heating.
Examples of this vaccine are rabies, influenza, polio (Salk), pneumococcal pneumonia, cholera, pertusis, typhoid fever vaccines.
Toxoids
It is a toxic compound that is inactive so as not to cause disease. In general, this vaccine material is made from germ toxins that are immunogenic. The result of making toxoid material that has been successfully named with natural fluid plain toxoid that stimulates the formation of antibody in the form of antitoxin. This vaccine lasts only one year. Examples include the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines.
Subunit Vaccine
It is a vaccine made with a certain part in a virus or bacteria by cloning the genes of a virus or bacteria by means of DNA recombination. Such as hepatitis B vaccine (containing protein from the surface of the virus), HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) containing the main capsids of the virus, Hemophilus Influenza type B (HIB) vaccine and influenza vaccine.
Conjugate Vaccine
It is a vaccine resulting from the merging of polysaccharides in the outermost layer of bacteria with other proteins. This conjugation has the aim of strengthening the immunogenicity properties of polysaccharides. An example is a haemophilus influenza type B vaccine.
Valence Vaccine
It is a type of vaccine that is divided into two, namely monovalent and polyvalent. A monovalent vaccine is made against one microorganism. Then a polyvalent vaccine is made to fight two or more microorganisms either the same or different.
Experimental
It is an innovation vaccine that is being developed by experts. There are several vaccines for this experiment, among others:
Recombinant Vector:
It is the result of a combination of physiology of microorganisms and DNA of other microorganisms.
DNA vaccine:
It is a vaccine made from an infectious segment of DNA. It works by inserting viral or bacterial DNA into human or animal cells. Cells that know the DNA will express it into proteins, therefore the immune system will also respond.
T-Cell Receptor (TCR) Peptide
It is a peptide that function is to modulate the production of cytokine enzymes and improve the mediation of cell immunity.
Microbial Inhibitors
It is a vaccine that focuses on bacterial proteins identified as joining the inhibition complement, can participate in neutralizing the virulence mechanism of the bacteria.
What is function of vaccine?
Providing vaccines or vaccinations is one way to prevent diseases that can be transmitted primarily by bacteria or viruses. Such as measles, polio, diphtheria, meningitis, tetanus, hepatitis, and so on.
How vaccines works
Vaccines are a form of training for the immune system to be ready to fight diseases in the future.
When the vaccine is introduced into the body, the immune system will see it as an antigen or enemy.
That way, in response to the threat from the enemy, the body will produce antibodies to fight it.
Later, many antibodies will be damaged, but immune cells or so-called memory cells will still grow in the body.
Well, when later the body meets the same antigen, then the memory cells will produce antibodies quickly.
Antibodies will destroy the antigen quickly as a form of resistance of the body to the attack of the disease.
When given the vaccine, there may be side effects that will be experienced by the body but generally only temporary.
These side effects can occur due to the start of the preparation process for the development of the immune system in order to fight the disease.
Thank you very much for reading What Is A Vaccine: Definition, Types, Functions, and How It Works, hopefully useful.
