Vaccines deconstructed: WHAT'S A VACCINE AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

The world is slowly inching closer to the fag end of the COVID Pandemic saga with every passing day, vaccines are being distributed and administered against the clock, and it won’t be too long before you or someone in your family is at the vaccination clinic to get your shot. As the miraculous product of hard labor makes its way from the vial to the syringe and into your arm, shouldn’t you know what a vaccine is and how it will protect you? Read on to find out.

To understand the working of a vaccine, it is important to first know why we fall ill. There are about 100 trillion viruses and bacteria on and around us. Not all of them cause disease and not all of them can break through our body’s protective barrier and get in, but some still manage to do so. All of us have an army of white blood cells (WBCs) and other cells collectively referred to as the “immune system” to fight against these pathogens i.e. viruses, bacteria etc. As soon as a pathogen enters our body, our WBCs immediately start producing antibodies to fight against them. So how exactly do they fight? Every pathogen has a unique shape of protein or sugar on its surface, and our WBCs produce antibodies of the exact same shape in defense. When these antibodies go and stick on to the protein or sugars, the pathogen dies or becomes disabled and we start to recover.

But why don’t all COVID 19 patients recover then? When our body tries to produce antibodies, it is sometimes not able to produce the antibody of the exact same shape as the sugars or protein on the surface of the pathogen. Consequently, the pathogen does not die. This scenario is some what similar to what happens when your key does not fit into the lock exactly. Even if the shape of the key is slightly different from the lock, you cannot unlock the door, can you? Our WBCs work as hard as they can to produce antibodies of the exact shape to kill the invaders, and the pathogens at the same time keep giving us symptoms by multiplying themselves. What happens then? People who are already ill with other diseases become more sick and those who are healthy are relatively less affected. Since the coronavirus is new for our body and producing the right kind and quantity of antibodies takes time, our body is unable to completely destroy the multiplying enemy.

Research laboratories around the world are spending huge amounts of money to produce vaccines to solve this problem, but how will the vaccine do the job? Vaccines are nothing but dead or weakened viruses, or sometimes just parts of the protein or sugar that pathogens have on their surfaces. When the vaccine is injected into our system, our body mistakes it for the real virus and begins to fight by producing antibodies. Essentially, the vaccine is like a rehearsal or drill for the body and prepares it for any future attacks by a particular pathogen. So when the real virus attacks it, our immune system wastes no time and immediately fires out the exact antibodies needed to kill the virus. We therefore stay unharmed and do not fall ill because of that virus. Wasn’t it amazing to know how our body works? Stay safe, take your precautions and do take the vaccine in your turn. If we all do so, a COVID 19 free world won’t be far.