Vaccination Research
Vaccines are made from parts of viruses or bacteria that are noninfectious or from whole viruses or bacteria that have been made noninfectious. The immune system of the body reacts to this by developing its resources to combat the disease with antibodies and white blood cells. If the person who received the vaccination is exposed to the disease, the immune system is prepared for protection and elimination of the infection. Vaccines will not work for everyone and will have adverse effects on some people; however, in most
instances, vaccines are reliable. There are a multitude of vaccines available - some are taken by everyone and others are for specific groups or infections. The most common vaccines available are mumps, measles, rubella, tetanus, influenza, pneumococcal infections and chicken pox. There are many more available for people with special requirements; for example, a person bitten by a rabid dog must
have the rabies vaccination. Your doctor should be consulted about the various vaccinations available and whether to take them.
There are some vaccinations that everyone should have such as tetanus because a tetanus infection can be fatal. Any scratch or break in the skin can expose someone to tetanus. In addition to the vaccinations mentioned above, these are available: anthrax, cholera, diphtheria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, whooping cough, plague, polio, rotavirus, tuberculosis, typhoid and yellow fever. There are many other vaccines in an experimental stage. There is also a vaccine for AIDS that some have reported as successful in slowing the disease, but the research on this is limited.
