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What is in a vaccine that makes a vaccine effective?
Answer:
A vaccine is basically made of a small amount of the disease-causing organism, either inert/inactive/in pieces or alive but attenuated (weakened so it can not make you sick), which is mixed in a liquid with ingredients for purity, for preservation, and for sterile injection (for shots).
How vaccines work:
They trigger an immune response so our body can make defenses against the infectious organism, so we are at the ready with antibodies if we are exposed to the full strength organism in the wild again.
Antibodies, small molecules that attach to the virus or bacterium infecting you, act by either tagging a microbe or an infected cell for attack by other parts of the immune system, or by neutralizing its target directly (for example, by blocking a part of a microbe that is essential for its invasion and survival).
See the related question about how vaccines work in the related question area below for a more complete explanation of how they work, and for an ingredient list for swine flu vaccine as an example of the types of ingredients in some vaccines.
How vaccines work:
They trigger an immune response so our body can make defenses against the infectious organism, so we are at the ready with antibodies if we are exposed to the full strength organism in the wild again.
Antibodies, small molecules that attach to the virus or bacterium infecting you, act by either tagging a microbe or an infected cell for attack by other parts of the immune system, or by neutralizing its target directly (for example, by blocking a part of a microbe that is essential for its invasion and survival).
First answer by ID1376987541.
Last edit by D4est.
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