We cannot get away with germs, they are present everywhere, whether in our environment, or on our bodies.
Whenever a person is vulnerable and comes in contact with germs, they get sick.
Meanwhile, a body has various ways of defending itself from the disease-causing organisms, also known as Pathogens.
Skin, Mucus and even cilia, all act as a barrier for pathogens against entering one's body. Each pathogen is made up of many subparts, and those sub-parts are unique to that pathogen, and the diseases that it causes.
The part of a pathogen that triggers the immune response is called an antigen. These antigens are typically proteins or other molecules found on the surface of pathogens, which the immune system recognizes as harmful.
As the immune system detects an antigen, it triggers antibodies, which are the special proteins made by the immune system to bind the antigens. They target the pathogens and neutralise them.
When a human body gets exposed to an antigen for the first time, it takes some time for the immune system to recognise, and produce antibodies to neutralise it.
Once the body produces antibodies in response to an antigen, it also produces memory cells, which stay in the body even after the pathogen is neutralised, and remember the specific antigen and are ready to react if the same pathogen reacts again, which leads to faster and stronger response than the first time.
How do Vaccines help fight disease
Vaccines mimic the process of natural infection by introducing harmless components of a pathogen to the body. They train the body to fight pathogens without causing disease. They do this by introducing harmless, weakened, or partial parts of a pathogen (such as antigens or genetic material like RNA or DNA), which safely triggers the immune system of a body to respond. This helps the body to build antibodies and produce memory cells.
So, if a real germ appears the immune system can quickly protect against disease.
Some vaccines, however, are given in multiple doses, with months or weeks of gap between them. This is done, so that the immune system builds stronger and long lasting protection by producing stronger antibodies and memory cells. Due to which, the body can recognise and defeat the pathogen more swiftly, if exposed again.
Vaccines protect most of the people but not everyone can be vaccinated. As people with severe allergies or weakened immune systems are unable to vaccinate. But, if others are protected with vaccines, in turn they also stay protected.
Herd Immunity
When a major community is vaccinated, it gets hard for diseases to spread as most people are immune to them. This is called herd immunity and it helps people who cannot be vaccinated.
Although vaccines are not 100 percent effective, herd immunity majorly reduces the risk of vulnerable people from getting exposed to it.
Vaccination doesn't only protect that individual, but safeguards others who can't be vaccinated.