What
is vaccination or immunization?
Vaccination or immunization are terms used interchangeably. Both
the terms mean process of giving vaccines or ‘shots’
to children or adults so that they develop immunity or resistance
against that particular disease.
How
does a vaccine work?
Normally in many diseases the disease-forming germ enters the body,
produces the disease & subsequently the body mounts immune response
or fighting power against the germ and lastly one recovers from
the disease. Here immunity against disease is produced after one
has suffered from the disease. A vaccine is nothing else but whole
or part of the disease germ, which has been processed or modified
in such a way than it has lost its capacity to produce disease but
it can still induce immunity or fighting power by body when administered
in the body. Hence by vaccination one develops immunity without
suffering from the disease.
What
are the types of vaccine?
One can look at the types of vaccines from different angles. Different
vaccines work against different diseases like there are separate
vaccines for poliomyelitis, measles, diphtheria, tetanus etc. Vaccines
can be oral vaccines like oral polio vaccine or oral typhoid vaccine
or it can be injectable vaccine like DPT vaccine or hepatitis B
vaccine. Vaccines can be single vaccine like the measles vaccine
or combination of more than one vaccine like the MMR vaccine (which
acts against meals, mumps & rubella) or the DPT vaccine (which
acts against diphtheria, pertussis & tetanus). Injectable vaccines
can be given subcutaneously i.e. below the skin like the measles
vaccine or given intramuscularly i.e. in the muscle like DPT vaccine.
Lastly vaccines are usually given prophylactically i.e. before the
exposure to the disease germs like most of the vaccines e.g. polio
vaccine, DPT, vaccine etc. Some vaccines work when given even after
the exposure to the disease germ like the rabies vaccine, which
is given after the dog bite. Hence one can look at the various vaccines
from different angles.
Which
vaccines are usually given to a baby?
The vaccines recommended routinely to a baby differ from authority
to authority. We will mainly discuss the schedule recommended by
Govt. of India & that recommended by Indian Academy of Pediatrics
Govt. of India schedule:
The minimum vaccines that an Indian child should receive are the
vaccines recommended by Govt. of India under the Expanded programme
of Immunization (EPI). It includes 3 doses of tetanus toxoid given
to the mother during the pregnancy to protect both the mother and
the newborn from tetanus.
After birth the baby receives vaccines against seven killer vaccine
preventable diseases including BCG (against tuberculosis) oral polio
vaccine (against poliomyelitis), DPT vaccine (against Diphtheria,
Pertussis, Tetanus), hepatitis B (against Hepatitis B) & measles
vaccine (against measles).
The time schedule of giving these vaccines is shown in the table
I. Individual vaccines are discussed somewhere else.
Page 1 of 3 Next
View Page 1 2
3