words Al Woods
Thanks to a number of conspiracy theories and rampant misinformation, many people have begun to doubt whether vaccines are safe. Thanks to the pandemic and the manufacturing of numerous COVID-19 vaccines, many people started to spread misinformation related to the COVID-19 vaccine dangers.
In most cases, people who spread that kind of misinformation do not have malicious intentions. Instead, they do not have the knowledge needed to understand what a vaccine is and how it works. They feel afraid of the vaccines due to the fact that they do not understand them.
Can you relate to that? If the answer is yes, you are in the right place. In this article, you will find plenty of information related to vaccine side effects, ranging from the most common side effects of vaccines to their types. Check it out and educate yourself!
What Is a Vaccine?
A vaccine is a pharmaceutical preparation of dead or weakened infectious microorganisms. The vaccine stimulates your immune system, causing it to produce antibodies against these microorganisms.
For example, in the case of the measles vaccine, the measles virus is either killed by heat treatment or weakened. However, it is still strong enough to stimulate your immune system and make it produce antibodies. Consequently, you become immune to the virus.
The first vaccine was created by Edward Jenner in 1796. He decided to inject pus from cowpox blisters into patients. Later, he found that people who had been injected did not develop smallpox.
In this day and age, many pharmaceutical investments support the production of thousands of vaccines out there.. The most common ones are meant to make you immune to tuberculosis, tetanus, rabies, diphtheria, influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, and meningitis.
Are There Many Types of Vaccines?
Vaccines come in two different types. The first type is live-attenuated vaccines. They contain an active form of infectious viruses or bacteria. However, it cannot cause disease in healthy people due to the fact that it has been weakened.
After you are given a live vaccine, your body builds up the antibodies it needs to fight off the disease in a few weeks. However, if you were to get infected with the live virus during that time, the symptoms would not be that severe, as your body would have already started to produce the antibodies it needs to fight off the disease.
The second type is inactivated vaccines. They contain killed infectious viruses or bacteria. Sadly, they do not provide immunity that is as strong as the one that you are provided with when you are given live-attenuated vaccines. Because of that, you need to receive several doses of the vaccine to get strong and ongoing immunity against a certain disease.
What Causes the Side Effects of Vaccines?
When you get vaccinated, your body starts producing antibodies against a specific disease, making you immune to that disease. Sadly, this process can come with side effects. In most cases, these side effects tend to be mild and can be treated with cheap, over-the-counter medications.
In very rare cases, severe side effects might occur, such as blood clots or inflammation. In fact, such severe side effects might occur even if you have already received the very same vaccine in the past without any issues. Why is that the case?
The answer to that question is very simple. Vaccines are made from a bunch of different strains of bacteria and viruses. Though being vaccinated with two strains of the same virus is making you immune to the same disease, a different strain of bacteria or a virus might make your body react a bit differently than it did to the other strain.
What Are the Most Common Side Effects of Vaccines?
In most cases, the side effects of vaccines are minor and do not cause serious problems. Do you want to know what they are? If your answer was yes, then take a look at the list below!
- pain at the injection site
- fever
- fatigue
- headache
- muscle pain
- chills
- diarrhea
- vomiting
- headache
- rash
In very rare cases, patients might find themselves dealing with serious side effects, such as anaphylaxis and blood clots. However, these side effects are extremely rare, and the odds of you having a serious allergic reaction are one to a million. Because of that, the benefits of getting the vaccine far outweigh the risks.
In Conclusion
Should you be afraid of getting vaccinated? The answer to this question is no. There is a very small chance that you will have a very severe allergic reaction after being vaccinated. However, the benefits of getting a vaccine far outweigh that risk.
If you are still kind of scared of getting a vaccine, you might want to talk to your doctor or try to educate yourself on the topic by reading articles coming from reputable sources, such as the WHO website. You should be able to find the answers to your questions in no time!
