14.04.

2021
Vaccines
Vaccines are defined as the cure in the form of a mild disease that is injected in a
person’s body to help develop immunity against a particular disease.
Vaccines have been a part of human lives since the 18 th Century, when a doctor
named Edward Jenner first made a vaccine for the smallpox disease in 1796.
Vaccines are exceptionally useful to fight against various kinds of viruses and
bacteria entering the human body. Vaccines are usually made from a mild form of
any particular disease by injecting an inert variant of a virus or bacteria, which
then activates the body’s immune system. Then the receptor cells in the body get
activated, and send antibodies to attack the virus of bacteria, fight with it, and
finish it. Then the memory cells of the body store the information of that
particular virus or bacteria for the future, which then causes the body to develop
immunity, as when the next time the body gets infected with that particular virus
or bacteria, the body sends antibodies in large quantity and very quickly, thus
saving the person’s health and life. Vaccines can also be made from genetically
sequencing the virus and bacteria, and then identifying a spike protein, which
attaches itself to the receptor cells, and prevents the virus or bacteria from
attaching itself to the body’s host cells.
This internal battle between the virus or bacteria and the human body also causes
some side-effects to occur, which emerge as symptoms of the disease, like cough,
fever, soar-throat, vomiting etc.
Vaccines are usually stored in a cool and segregated place, where the
temperatures can range from normal temperature of a refrigerator, such as 2
degrees Celsius to 8 degrees Celsius, and even lower temperatures such as -20
degrees Celsius to -80 degrees Celsius.
Vaccines need proper care and handling to prevent them from damage or
wastage.
There are many private and government owned entities in the world which
produce vaccines of different sorts for different ailments. Companies like Serum
Institute of India, Moderna, Pfizer, Bharat Biotech etc. are producing vaccines in
the current Covid-19 pandemic for everyone.
Vaccine diplomacy also plays an import role in the geo-politics of the nations,
wherein allied nations send vaccines either for free or at low rates to each other,
and enemy nations send vaccines at high rates, and that too with many terms and
conditions.
Vaccines can be used on people of all age groups, ranging from a toddler to an
elderly senior citizen.
Many vaccines around the world, when applied timely and in the right quantity,
have helped eradicate many deadly and contagious diseases, which plagued
humanity for a long time, like Polio, Smallpox, Tuberculosis etc.
Overall, vaccines are an excellent tool in the armoury of humanity to fight against
deadly diseases in an effective manner.