Vaccination
Definition
Vaccination introduces a vaccine into the body to produce immunity and prevent specific diseases.
Description
Many diseases that once caused widespread illness, disability, and death are now prevented by vaccines in developed countries. Vaccines are medicines that contain weakened or dead bacteria or viruses. When a child receives a vaccine, his or her immune system responds by producing antibodies, substances that weaken or destroy disease-causing organisms. When the child comes in contact with live bacteria or viruses of the same kind that are in the vaccine, the antibodies prevent those organisms from making the child sick. Vaccines also stimulate the cellular immune system. In other words, the child becomes immune to the disease the organisms normally cause. Building immunity...
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