Coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, since then it has infected more than 3.8 million people around the globe. There is no medication or vaccination available, and that is the reason why social distancing and frequent handwashing is the only precautionary measure that can prevent the spread of the virus. But why medical professionals and scientists are focusing on making vaccines? Let us talk about vaccination briefly:
How Does Vaccination Work?
Vaccines prepare our body to fight the disease without exposing us to disease symptoms. It is like a training course for the immune system. When foreign bodies such as bacteria or viruses invade our body, our immune system responds by producing antibodies, which are protein molecules. These antibodies fight the foreign invader known as an antigen and protect our body from getting an infection. A healthy individual produces millions of antibodies a day, which fights infection so efficiently that people never even notice that they were exposed to an antigen.
However, our body has a process. When a body faces a new invader, it needs time to produce antibodies against that particular invader. But what if you are exposed to antigens such as measles virus or whooping cough bacteria, which if stay in your body for a few days can cause severe damage. That's where vaccines come in.
Vaccines are made of dead or weakened antigens. They are not infectious, but our immune system sees them as a foreign body and starts producing antibodies in response. Once the threat is passed, many of the antibodies will break down, but memory cells remain in the body. And when your body encounters that antigen again, the memory cells produce antibodies quickly and remove the threat before its too late.
Herd Immunity Imperative
Vaccines not only works on a personal level but on a community level as well. Some people can't be vaccinated, either because they have a weak immune system, or they are too young, or they have severe allergies. However, if everyone around gets vaccinated, unvaccinated people are protected by something known as herd immunity. In layman’s term, these unvaccinated people are unlikely to even come in contact with the disease, so they probably won't get sick.
Types Of Vaccination
Live Attenuated Vaccines: A weaker, asymptomatic form of the bacteria or virus is introduced into the body. Some live attenuated vaccines are used to cure Measles, Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), etc.
Inactivated Vaccines: A specific virus or bacteria is killed with chemical or heat, and its dead cells are introduced into the body. Some inactivated vaccines are used to cure Polio (IPV), Hepatitis A, Rabies, etc.
Subunit/conjugate Vaccines: A specific protein or carbohydrates of disease is injected into the body. Some conjugate vaccines are used to cure Hepatitis B, Influenza, Pneumococcal, etc.
Some other types of vaccine are Toxoid Vaccines, Conjugate Vaccines, Recombinant Vector Vaccines, DNA vaccines.
Medical professionals are working hard to make a vaccine that can cure people infected with the coronavirus. Make sure you
buy coronavirus health insurance, as it will provide you financial coverage. So that when vaccination is made, you don’t need to worry about the finances as coronavirus insurancewill take care of it. You can check out the various
health insurance plans provided by insurers to suit your needs.
