Vaccinations

Vaccination is like giving our body a training session. It helps our immune system remember and fight off harmful germs.

Getting vaccinated can help with:

• Personal protection through training your immune system to recognise and fight viruses and bacteria.
• Establishing herd immunity to inhibit the spread of diseases within our community. By choosing to vaccinate, you contribute to a shield that protects the vulnerable amongst us, such as newborns, elderly individuals, and those undergoing certain medical treatments.

Vaccines cleverly prime our immune system to recognise and defend against harmful pathogens without causing the disease. Introducing a safe component of the pathogen—such as a protein or a piece of genetic material—triggers our body to generate an immune response, creating antibodies and memory cells.

This “training” ensures our immune system can quickly and effectively combat the actual pathogen in the future. Various vaccines utilise different methods, from inactivated particles to mere fragments of the pathogen, all serving to safeguard our health against numerous preventable diseases.

Vaccine development is a meticulous process that marries scientific rigour with innovative biotechnology. The steps for developing a vaccine, broadly speaking, are as follows:

Step 1: Scientists identify an antigen (a harmless piece of the pathogen) capable of triggering an immune response.

Step 2: The vaccine undergoes a robust production phase, where the antigen is either grown or synthesised.

Step 3: Rigorous testing through preclinical and clinical trials then ascertains the vaccine’s safety and efficacy.

Step 4: Once regulatory bodies approve, vaccines are produced on a large scale, meticulously tested for quality, and distributed for public use, ensuring widespread protection against targeted diseases.