Immunization - BCG and Polio Vaccination
As children, our parents got us immunized by taking us to the hospital for the necessary injections. I remembered in primary school, some government bodies came to immunize us from polio, and to date, a lot of people are immunized on a daily basis against diseases. So what do we understand by Immunization?
The inducing of immunity against a specific disease either passively through the administration of antibody-containing preparations or actively by administering steroids or vaccines. This treatment is aimed at preventing diseases and providing possible lasting resistance to infections. As important as vaccination, a lot of children have not been immunized, and the number of children that aren't immunized continues to decrease regularly., According to the CDC (2022), 25 million children missed out on important vaccines in 2021, and this was 2 million higher than the year 2019.
With vaccination, the antigen is inoculated into the body of the person being vaccinated, regardless of the seroconversion of the antigen. Immunization then begins with the inducing of the immune response which can be cell-mediated or humoral in the body. Immune responses can be primary when the antigen is introduced into the body for the first time after a lag phase of about 10 days. During reintroduction known as secondary introduction, there is no lag phase as the antibodies are immediately produced to attack the antigens. This response is immediate, high-tier, and long-lasting. These immune responses can be T-cell dependent or B-cell response, where T-cell-dependent response has to do with the T cell and the B cell. it is a prompt, IgG-type, long-lasting, high-tier immune response which shows a booster effect when repeatedly exposed. This response is visible after 6 years of age. The B-cell response is also referred to as T-cell independent. It is short-lived, showing vaccination instead of booster effect and not reducing carrier state., This occurs after the age of 2 years old.
Vaccines can be categorized into Live attenuated (LAV) or killed (inactivated) vaccines. With a Live attenuated vaccine, the ability to replicate in the body is high and this leads to increase stimulating of immune responses, while killed vaccines do not respond in the body and would require both primary and booster shots many times. With bacteria Live vaccines include typhoid and bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) for tuberculosis, in the case of killed vaccines are vaccines for cholera, tetanus, meningococcal, pertussis, pneumococcal, and influenza type B. With viruses, live attenuated vaccine includes Polio (sabin), measles, mumps, rubella, and yellow fever, while with killed vaccines are Polio (sack), rabies, hepatitis B, influenza, encephalitis, and so on.
These vaccines can also be categorized based on storage. Some of them are cold-chain vaccines as they are stored in cold temperatures from manufacturing to transporting, and must still be cold at the point of inoculation so as to preserve their efficacy and potency. These vaccines can be transported in cold boxes, vaccine carriers, flasks, and use of Ice packs. The vaccine needs to be monitored with processes such as Vaccine Vial Monitoring where if the small square within the circle becomes darker, then it should be discarded even if it hasn't reached its expiry date.
Let's quickly give a breakdown of some vaccines that you might come across and do not know what they are or what class of vaccination they are.
BCG Vaccination (Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin) is a life-attenuated vaccine obtained from the tubercle bacilli of the bovine strain. This vaccine would produce controlled primary tuberculosis infection in the person being vaccinated. At current practice, the vaccine is a heat-stable, freeze-dried powder that is reconstituted using normal saline. It is to be introduced into the body at the middle of the deltoid above the insertion over the upper left arm. Tuberculosis is a serious lung infection that could spread to other parts of the body such as the meninges of the brain, kidney, and body. Tuberculosis was responsible for the death of 1.6 million people in 2021 making it the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. It was discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch, and in 1900 Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin started working on the vaccine for tuberculosis where they grew tubercle bacilli on a glycerin and potato medium but they didn't make a homogeneous suspension of the bacilli. In 1908 the virulent bovine strain of tubercle bacillus was used, and in 1921 Benjamin Weill-Halle was the first human to be administered the vaccine.
Polio Vaccine (Sabin) is an oral life-attenuated vaccine, it is stored between 2 degree Celsius and 10 degrees Celsius. This vaccine is cheap and is used in almost all parts of the world. This vaccine is used in blanketing operations to check the incipient outbreak. Polio is to be given at birth, then booster doses are given at 6 weeks, 10 weeks, and 14 weeks. Then at 15 to 18 months. The vaccine is administered at a level of 2 drops in the mouth followed by swallowing water to help the vaccine to be properly swallowed. Another polio vaccine is Enhanced Inactivated polio Vaccine (EIPV) (SALK VACCINE). This is not an oral vaccine, it would be given in the lateral thigh in infants and the deltoid in grown-up children at 8 to 14 weeks and a booster at 15 months. The vaccine is stored at about 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius.
https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-health/immunization
https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/basics/vaccines.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3749764/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/bcg-tuberculosis-tb-vaccine/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis
https://www.unicef.org/immunization
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/polio/index.html
https://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-prevention/the-vaccines/ipv/
https://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-prevention/the-vaccines/opv/
Polio vaccination is one the most important of all. It has an 100 percent reach to eradicate the disease and prevent from it. Nice post, my friend, @ireti
Immunization is very important at this early stage of babies life. I remember in early age of my children I support my wife to take my kids for immunization.
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