Vaccine Wars
A vaccine war is brewing all around the world due to the current menace of the COVID 19 virus that has become a huge burden for people across the globe, shutting down economies due to lock downs and sending a lot of the world’s population to their early graves. A total number 0f 281 million people across the globe have fallen sick as a result of the COVID pandemic whilst about 5.81 million people have also died globally from the pandemic giving rise to a need for a quick solution to this current pandemic before it claims more lives and sends the world’s economy tumbling into the worst recession in its history.
However, a few months into the pandemic there were giant strides made with regards to vaccines development in order to contain the virus. This was unprecedented in the history of virology and medical sciences as the speed with which the vaccines was developed caused a lot of skepticism amongst the world’s citizens as a lot of leaders in religions, governments and a host of conspiracy theorists peddled all forms of information as regards the efficacy of vaccines causing a lot of misgivings and fueling the anti-vaccine movement which has led to the current vaccine wars.
Therefore, in this article, we shall be taking a look at vaccines and how it affects our lives both positive and negative.
Vaccine Definition & Meaning?
Before we dive deep into the vaccine wars, let’s talk about vaccines. A vaccine can be defined simply as a material synthesized from the causative agents of a disease, its products, or a synthetic alternative, processed to serve as an antigen without triggering the ailment, being used to promote the formation of antibodies and provide immunity against one or even more diseases.
In a notch shell this means that vaccines are made from dormant (inactive and rendered powerless) viruses. The principle behind vaccines is to help trigger the immune system’s readiness in order to be ready whenever the vaccinated subject finds himself or herself within close quarters of such a virus reducing its fatality and symptoms to the subject.
What Is The History In The Development of Vaccines?
The vaccine wars began with the first case of vaccine/vaccination usage in history took place in the year 1796. A British physician by the name Edward Jenner developed a vaccine, which employed the cowpox virus to protect people against smallpox, a sister virus. Prior to that, Asian physicians in the ancient times used the notion of vaccination to protect infants from smallpox by giving them dried crusts from the sores of adults who had the disease. Some people gained immunity, while others contracted the illness. Jenner's breakthrough was the use of a substance that delivered immunity in a way that was equivalent to, but safer than, smallpox. As a result, he took advantage of the rather uncommon condition in which immunization to one virus offers protection against another virus. Injecting lambs with a mixture containing attenuated strains of the bacillus that causes the disease, French scientist Louis Pasteur proved vaccination against anthrax in 1881. He developed a protective rabies suspension four years later.
Categories Of Vaccines.
Vaccines come in different forms. Each kind is aimed at training your immune system on how to combat certain bacteria and the diseases/symptoms they might cause.
During the development of vaccines, scientists take the following factors into account:
· The way your immune system reacts to a bacterium.
Inactivated Vaccines:
Inactivated vaccines use a dead strain of the bacteria that causes the disease. Inactivated vaccines seldom produce the same level of immunity (protection) as live immunizations. As a result, you may require numerous doses over time (booster injections) to maintain disease immunity.
Vaccines that are inactivated are used to protect against:
Hepatitis A (a virus that causes liver disease)
The flu (a contagious illness)
Polio (a disease that affects children and causes paralysis)
Rabies
Live Vaccines:
Live vaccines employ the use of a weakened version of the disease-causing bacterium. These produce a powerful and long-lasting immune response, akin to the natural illness they aim to avoid. Most live vaccinations can provide lifetime protection against a germ and the illness it causes with just one or two doses.
However, live vaccinations have several drawbacks. Consider the following scenario:
Some people, such as those with compromised immune systems, long-term health issues, or those who've undergone an organ transplant, should talk to their health care practitioner before getting them since they contain a small quantity of the weakened live virus.
They can't travel since they need to be kept cool. That implies they can't be utilized in nations where refrigerators are scarce and there is lack of electricity.
Live vaccines help to fight the following diseases:
Mumps, rubella, and measles (MMR combined vaccine) Chickenpox, Smallpox, Yellow fever.
Messenger RNA Vaccines (mRNA vaccines):
 |
Examples of an mRNA vaccine is the current COVID 19 vaccine.
Subunit Vaccines:
Also known as recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines, are vaccines that employ particular components of the pathogen (bacteria or virus), such as its protein, sugar, or capsid, are known as recombinant, polysaccharide, and conjugate vaccines (a casing around the virus or bacteria).
These vaccines provide a powerful immune response that is targeted to particular portions of the pathogen since they only employ certain bits of the germ. They can also be administered to everyone irrespective of current health issues.
One drawback of these vaccinations is that you may require booster doses in the future to remain disease-free.
These vaccinations are used to protect against the following diseases:
Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) is caused by the bacteria Haemophilus influenza.
Hepatitis B (this is a virus that causes liver disease)
HPV (Human papillomavirus)
Whooping cough
Pneumococcal disease (a kind of pneumonia)
Meningococcal (a kind of meningitis)
Shingles
Toxoid Vaccines
Toxoid vaccines Instead of the germ itself, they generate immunity against the components of the germ that cause illness. That is, the immune reaction is directed at the poison rather than the entire germ.
Booster doses, like several other forms of vaccinations, may be required to maintain disease protection.
Vaccines against toxoids are used to protect against:
Diphtheria
Tetanus
Viral Vector Vaccines
Virus vector vaccines have now been explored for years. The virus vector technique has been recently applied in several Ebola vaccinations, and a number of studies have focused on viral vector vaccines for other infectious illnesses like Zika, flu, and HIV. COVID-19. Vaccines were also developed using this method. Vaccines were also developed using this method.
To give protection, viral vector vaccines employ a modified form of a separate virus as a vector. Some known Viruses like influenza, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), measles virus, and adenovirus, which is the known cause of the common cold, have been utilized as vectors. One of the viral vectors employed in certain COVID-19 vaccines in clinical studies is an adenovirus. Vaccines against viral vectors are used to protect against:
COVID-19
What Are The Advantages Of Vaccines?
Vaccination/vaccines have saved millions of lives and averted countless cases of disease and disability over the years. Polio, for example, was one of the most feared children illnesses of the twentieth century, causing cases of irreparable paralysis and periodic outbreaks. However, thanks to effective immunization campaigns all throughout the world, polio is nearly eradicated.
Individuals, Families, And Communities Are All Protected By Vaccines
You are not just protecting yourself when you get vaccinated; you're also protecting your family and community from communicable and potentially deadly diseases? We can prevent illnesses from spreading over the world if we have high immunization rates in every community.
Vaccines Save Money
Vaccine-preventable illnesses may be extremely expensive, resulting in medical visits, hospitalizations, and early death. Furthermore, epidemic responses at the national, state, and local levels need a significant amount of time, money, and labor. The world will save billions of dollars if immunizations are administered on time.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Vaccines?
Vaccines come with their own set of hazards. This is where the vaccine wars discussion springs from. Some people, for example, have a minor response to the vaccines like nausea, headache, high or low temperature, blood clot (which can lead to death) etc. further arming the proponents of the vaccine wars.
The MMR vaccine for instance due to the massive fear of the vaccine side effects has been the subject of much debate in recent years. Some individuals used to assume that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination, which is combination therapy, may cause autism in children. They chose without giving their child the vaccination, hoping that they would not contract measles, mumps, or rubella. Same fear was exhibited in northern Nigeria where people refused to take the polio vaccine due to the false narratives being peddled as side effects of vaccines such as the propaganda that vaccines was a tool by the west for birth control in order to reduce the northern Nigerian population. From this you can see that vaccines suffer from both disadvantages and propaganda.
Summary
In summary, despite the vaccine wars man has made a lot of advances as regards being able to survive planet earth despite all the pathogens and diseases that are looking to displace us from our world.
In this article, we have looked at the definition of vaccines, the history of vaccines, the categories of vaccines and most importantly the advantages/disadvantages of vaccines.
Conclusion
In conclusion despite the current pandemic the vaccine wars seem to not be going away anytime soon. Personally, I do not see a reason to avoid vaccines and as such I am pro vaccine but with the current state of the world’s affairs, I still believe that we all have our fundamental rights to freedom to make our own decisions.
I will like to get your feedback on this guys. Comment and share.