Drug Information Q&A Q44. Please explain the role of vaccines.
Answer
Vaccines are a type of medicine that prevents diseases by introducing pathogens (viruses and bacteria) with reduced or weakened virulence into the body in advance and creating immunity. In recent years, some vaccines have been produced using genetic modification technology without using pathogens.
Explanation
In 1796, Edward Jenner of England discovered that when cowpox (smallpox in cattle) bacteria were inoculated into a person, that person did not develop smallpox.
This method (the smallpox method) spread rapidly throughout the world as a breakthrough in overcoming smallpox, which was feared to be a deadly disease.
In the late 19th century, Louis Pasteur of France succeeded in developing a vaccine against rabies based on his research on bacteria.
Jenner's and Pasteur's research led to the discovery of "a mechanism (immunity) that prevents a person from becoming ill if previously infected with a weakened pathogen (virus or bacteria), even if the same pathogen subsequently enters the body. Vaccines are used to create immunity and prevent disease.
Vaccines have since been developed and used against many diseases that have afflicted people, including measles, diphtheria, rubella, tetanus, Japanese encephalitis, polio (childhood paralysis), hepatitis B, influenza, bacterial pneumonia, and bacterial meningitis.
Vaccines, on the other hand, are given to healthy people, but they also cause side effects (called adverse reactions in the case of vaccines), although the probability is low.
In addition, because vaccines are biological products, some people are constitutionally incapable of being vaccinated due to allergic reactions to vaccine components.
Therefore, even if a vaccine is a routine vaccination recommended by the government, be sure to understand the risks and benefits associated with vaccination.
Also, if you feel sick or experience any other symptoms after vaccination, be sure to inform the doctor who vaccinated you.
Chart/Column
44｜The Varicella Law
The Smallpox Method Jenner's Smallpox Vaccination
In 1796, Edward Jenner, a British medical practitioner, discovered that if a person was inoculated in advance with cowpox virus, which was purified from the pus of a cow infected with smallpox, he or she would suffer only mild symptoms even if inoculated with the smallpox virus later. It was the world's first vaccination in medical terms, contributing to the eradication of smallpox today.
Two-pronged needle for vaccination (example)
The smallpox vaccination method is a method of boosting immunity by inoculating a person with a pathogen with weakened infectivity in advance, applying "the mechanism (immunity) whereby a person who has been infected with a weakened pathogen in advance does not develop the disease even if the same pathogen enters the body. In Japan, vaccinations against the vaccine, which had been covered by the Infectious Disease Prevention Law, were transferred to the Infectious Diseases Law enacted in 1999, and at the same time, the individual vaccination method was introduced and the vaccination age was reviewed.
MINI Column Types of Vaccines
From the beginning, vaccines utilized live weak pathogenic bacteria. This is called a "live vaccine.
Some types of pathogens are difficult to use as vaccines in a live state. For this reason, various types of vaccines have been developed and are now used, including "inactivated vaccines" in which the activity of the pathogen is lost, "toxoids" in which the toxin of the pathogen is denatured and rendered harmless, and "component vaccines" in which only a portion of the pathogen required is used.
In addition, advances in genetic recombination technology have led to research into "recombinant vaccines," which use only the genes and proteins of pathogenic bacteria, and the diversification of vaccines is expected to help prevent and treat more diseases.
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