The immune system in our body acts to protect our body from pathogens, foreign materials, and serves as surveillance for the entire body. It protects the body from infection by creating barriers that prevent pathogens, such as bacteria or virus from entrance to the body. These foreign pathogens can cause minor illness or can be fatal, depending on the nature of the pathogen and how harmful it is to the body. There are almost more than seventy different bacteria, viruses, and other infectious microbes that can cause major diseases in human.
Although we can not control the entrance of these foreign pathogens, scientists and health professionals found a way to prevent infection from certain pathogenic forms. They began the process of immunizing. Immunizations in children against some common childhood diseases such as tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella, and the flu has saved millions of lives in the US alone. Many adults were and still are being immunized against the influenza virus that causes flu, hepatitis, pneumonia, and other serious diseases. Because of the increase in various diseases and due to increase of international traveling and emerging infectious diseases, immunizations became crucial to everyone's lives and has kept billions healthy worldwide.
Immunization is a process when an individual is exposed to a certain agent to strengthen his or her immune system against that specific agent. An immunization is very similar to or can also be termed vaccination because this process also utilizes an infecting agent; immunization is just a general term for it. There are many forms of vaccines and every different form of vaccine that helps immunize a disease is unique for that disease.
Vaccine is an antigenic way of establishing immunity to a certain disease. The process of distributing it is called vaccination. Vaccines can be administered orally or my injection depending on the type of vaccine. They can come in different forms. There is the inactivated vaccines, which are inactivated microbes that were killed with chemicals and heat and can have short lived immune responses so may require booster shots. Examples are vaccines against hepatitis A and flu. Secondly, there is the live, attenuated vaccines, which are live microbes that promote a better immunological responses and examples include measles and mumps. The third type of vaccines is the toxoids, which are also inactivated but are compounds taken from microbes where they cause illness. Examples include tetanus and diphtheria, for which the vaccine is combined. The last form of vaccine is the subunit, which is a fragment of the microbe that is entered into the body to mount an immune response. An example is the subunit vaccine against HBV, hepatitis B virus. All these vaccine forms can be used for immunization against specific viruses or bacteria that is foreign to our body and which can be harmful.
When immunization is under process, our body thinks that there is an invasion by a certain pathogen or an infection agent so the immune system can fortify against this pathogen. When an individual is vaccinated or is being vaccinated for a certain disease, a harmless version of a germ of the disease is inserted into the body and the body's immune system quickly responds by producing what is called antibodies to attack the antigens. (Antibodies are defined as immunoglobulins that are used by the immune to identify and foreign pathogens such as viruses or bacteria. They recognize and target antigens, which are substances that stimulate an immune response).
Henceforth, the body remembers this invasion so the next time the immune system can readily recognize the disease causing agents when they appear.
As of today, there are many different vaccines for many emerging diseases flaring around the world. The biggest concern is the safety of the children. According to World Health Organization, all children should be immunized against certain diseases and immunizations against certain diseases are required for entry to school at the age of six. The diseases for which immunizations are required are DPT, Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus (all given at once- it is a combined vaccine), measles, polio, and hepatitis B. Those who are not immunized as little kids should because infection can spread and there will be more hosts for the infectious agents. Such a situation can be termed as "herd" community and is popular with diseases such as measles, for which almost 90 to 95 percent of all infants should be immunized.
Although emphasized strongly for children because they are so precious to the eyes, immunizations are definitely recommended for adults as well. Everyone should have and keep a vaccination status and it is important that an individual is aware of his or her immunizations and for which diseases he or she was immunized for. It is definitely a preventive medicine and should be taken into consideration at all times.
I used Endnote.
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UNICEF. "How Does Immunization Work". Immunizations Plus. October 30,
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CDC. "Why Immunize?" National Immunization Program. July 11, 2003.
October 30, 2006.