How Do Vaccines Work?

 by Yolanda Ridge

After a year of bad news stories, there’s finally some good news on the horizon when it comes to COVID-19: a vaccine!

So how do vaccines work? Here’s a step-by-step guide on how vaccines—also known as immunizations—prevent people from getting disease like the measles, the flu and (hopefully soon) COVID-19. For the simplicity, I’ll refer to the disease as “YUCK” and the germ that causes it as “Y”.

Scientists modify Y so it is weak or even dead but still recognizable (a bit like a zombie).

This zombified version of Y is given to a person, usually by injection or nasal spray.

Once a person has been exposed to Y-modified they start to develop an immune response.

This immune response can cause some people to develop a fever or maybe a bit of a runny nose but it will not cause someone to get YUCK because of the way Y has been modified (or zombified).

The body essentially learns from this exposure to Y-modified through something called adaptive immunity.

When an immunized person is next exposed to Y (this time through contact with someone who has YUCK) their immune system will immediately recognize the intruder and launch a full-scale assault… usually enough of an attack to stop Y from causing YUCK.

There’s more detail on vaccines and immunity in this excellent TED-Ed video. Because it was made in 2015, there’s no mention of COVID-19. But did you know that there are more than 150 coronavirus vaccines currently in development across the world? As I write this, people in the United Kingdom and Russia are receiving the first immunizations against COVID-19.

For more details on the different types of coronavirus vaccines and the process of getting them approved, check out this comprehensive article: Here’s the latest on COVID-19 vaccines, from National Geographic magazine.

According to a poll done by National Geographic magazine, 61% of Americans are likely to get an FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine once it’s available. What about you?

Yolanda Ridge is a middle grade author and science writer from Rossland, BC. Visit her website at www.yolandaridge.com to find out more.

Photo credits: Male Zombie by Gordon Dylan Johnson from opengameart.org; Soldier by André Santana from pixabay.com