Vaccine is an easy way to help prevent illness, reduce hospital visits and support children’s learning so they can achieve their potential. Vaccination also helps communities to be healthier, easing pressure on families and health services.
A vaccine contains a tiny bit of a bacteria, virus or toxin that’s been weakened or destroyed in a lab first. It’s usually given by injection (like a shot), drops or nasal spray. A small amount of other safe ingredients like sterile water, adjuvants to boost the immune response, stabilisers and preservatives are also in the vaccine. Vaccines rarely cause a reaction. However, if you or your child do have a reaction, it’s important to tell the person who gives the vaccination as they will need to be treated straight away.
For example, the mRNA in a COVID-19 vaccine delivers ‘directions’ to our cells telling them how to make a harmless piece of protein that mimics what is on the surface of the flu virus. When our immune cells recognise this protein, they respond by creating antibodies that can fight it, preventing infection.
Live, weakened vaccine viruses usually reproduce fewer than 20 times in our bodies so that they can’t cause disease. They are usually combined with other types of vaccines to protect against many different diseases in one shot, called a combination vaccine. Subunit, recombinant and conjugate vaccines are safer still, using only specific parts of the germ, like its protein or sugar casing (e.g. tetanus vaccine).