Vaccines have really only entered our minds once a year and usually we’re too busy worrying about big needles to wonder what is really in them. Now, the interest in vaccines have increased quite a bit so we figured we might as well answer some questions you may have
Types of Vaccines
Not all vaccines are actually the same. In order to understand how they work, we have to understand the different types of vaccines.
Live Vaccine
A live vaccine is where a weakened form of the virus is injected into the body. The virus is weakened enough so that the immune system will easily defeat it and create the antibodies needed to defend the body from any future exposure. By giving only one or two shots, the body can defend itself for the rest of its life which makes it a very quick way to gain immunity. However, people with poor or weakened immune systems may still be effect by the virus so there is a little bit of risk involved with this form of the vaccine.
Inactive Vaccine
An inactive vaccine is similar to the live vaccine except instead of weakened viruses, the shot actually contains a dead form of the virus. This is a very safe option as the body will not be able to be infected by the shot. However, this process is not as quick as the live vaccine because the body needs a few exposures to create the antibodies from dead viruses. So while this option is safer, it requires multiple shots over a longer amount of time.
Subunit Vaccine
A subunit vaccine is quite different from inactive or live vaccines. Instead of injecting the whole virus, a subunit vaccine injects a specific protein from a virus. The protein is always specifically selected as not all proteins in a virus are enough for an immune system to produce antibodies. This is a very safe way to build immunity as it does not involve the actual virus itself and so the body cannot be infected. It is also as fast as the live vaccine and will usually not require multiple shots. The only downside to this form of a vaccine is that it can only be used for certain viruses as not all viruses will have a convenient protein that can be isolated and still be enough to create antibodies from. It also takes more time to research and create.
There are many different others forms of vaccines as well for specific types of bacteria and viruses, but the majority of vaccines you might encounter fall under these three categories.
