What is a Vaccine?

A compound that contains a weaker version of a pathogen that is known to cause diseases in humans. It won't make you sick, but it will stimulate an immune response. Unlike medicines that work that treat a disease, vaccines stop it from happening in the first place.

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Vaccines can make us immune to diseases, like smallpox!

How is a Vaccine Created?

The journey of a vaccine first begins at a lab, where scientists conduct a series of experiments on vaccines to ensure the public's safety.

That is one big egg

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For many viral vaccines, the process of creating the vaccine itself begins with a chicken embryo.

When the virus gets injected into an egg, it begins its work. Overtime, the virus mutates inside of the egg, better adapting to infect chicken cells rather than human cells. This ultimately weakens the virus against humans.

After incubating the virus inside of the egg for awhile, it is then harvested. For inactivated vaccines, like the flu shot, the vaccine virus is inactivated (killed), purified, and strengthened.

When reintroduced to the human body as a vaccine, the weakened virus multiplies less quickly. This gives the immune system enough time to respond to the alien cell and kill it, so the human doesn't get sick or get any more sick.

DIE!

Vaccines can ensure lifelong immunity, because certain cells in your body, called B-Cells, produce things called antibodies. Antibodies recognizes the pathogen it encounters, allowing your immune system to remember how to respond to that pathogen if needed in the future, often times killing the infection much faster.