Vaccines

Episode 40: July 25, 2012
Prevention

How Do Vaccines Work?

Today’s topic will be vaccines and how they work. With all of the controversy surrounding vaccines, I thought that if I am going to make a case for them, I would do little good by giving the standard finger-wagging lecture. People need first to understand infection and immunity before they will accept my claim that immunizations are invaluable. 

What is Immunity?

As I said in my antibiotic podcast, the immune system is the police force of your body. The white blood cells are the officers on the beat, wandering around your bloodstream looking for germs that want to live in your body and cause trouble. If they find a trouble-maker, they promptly identify it and destroy it.