Vaccines are celebrated for their part in
fighting disease. But, a growing group of
people seem to believe that they endanger
our health, instead of protecting it. The
Internet is full of stories about allergic
reactions, the onset of disabilities, and
even death following vaccination appointments.
And, it’s true vaccines can have side effects.
Let’s look at how they work, and how dangerous
they really are.
Your immune system is a complex army of billions
of cells. Soldiers, intelligence cells, and
weapons factories. Every day, you’re attacked
countless times, but your immune soldiers
alone usually deal with that, so you don’t
even notice. If an infection becomes serious
though, our intelligence cells gather intel
about the attackers and activate our weapons
factories. You know the weapon: antibodies.
They’re like targeted missiles produced
specifically to combat the invader.
Unfortunately, this process takes several
days to complete. That gives intruders a lot
of time to do damage. Contrary to popular
wisdom, what doesn’t kill you doesn’t
make you stronger. Our bodies really don’t
want to fight serious wars over and over,
so our immune system came up with an ingenious
way to get stronger and stronger over time.
If we fight an enemy that is dangerous enough
to trigger our heavy weapons, our immune system
automatically creates memory cells. Memory
cells remain in our body for years, in a deep
sleep. They do nothing but remember. When
an enemy attacks for a second time, the slumbering
memory cells awaken, and order coordinated
attacks and the production of antibodies.
This is so fast and effective, that many infections
you beat once will never make you sick again.
You might even be immune against them forever.
Which is also why little kids are constantly
ill; they don’t have enough memory cells
yet. And this beautiful natural mechanism
is what we build on when we use vaccines.
