Vaccines • Vaccines are “one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine” • In developed nations, vaccines have almost exterminated polio and smallpox and tightly controlled diseases like hepatitis A and B or typhus • There are three generations of vaccinations • First generation vaccines are either weakened or killed forms of whole organisms • There is a problem with first-gen vaccines: the pathogens can still revert to dangerous forms and cause diseases in immunocompromised vaccine recipients. • Second generation vaccines are specific protein antigens, which are safer, but cannot generate killer T cell responses DNA Vaccines • Third generation of vaccines • Consist of recombinant plasmids that have been transformed to produce one to two proteins form a pathogen • This DNA is injected directly into somatic cells, where, through transcription and translation, the proteins are created. • The proteins are recognized as foreign and processed by the cell and displayed on the cell surface by MHC markers • Here, they raise helper T cell, cytotoxic T cell, and antibody immune responses. Current applications • DNA vaccines have had limited success in clinical trials • A veterinary DNA vaccines for use on horses to protect from West Nile virus has been approved • In June 2006 and August 2007, positive results were announced for vaccines against bird flu and multiple sclerosis, respectively. • The technique still needs to proven conclusively in human testing Use of Plasmid Vectors • Highly active expression vectors elicit the best immune response • Strong viral promoters, such as Rous Sarcoma virus (RSV) or cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoters are most commonly used • The plasmids most commonly used als... ... middle of paper ... ... Cited Continued • Baker, Barbara, et. al. “The N gene of tobacco confers resistance to tobacco mosaic virus in transgenic tomato.”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States93 (1996) 8776–8781. • Feldstein, Paul. Personal interview. July 2008. Fig. 8 Images • Fig. 1: http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bioterror/images/germ_dna.jpg • Fig 2: http://www.gen.cam.ac.uk/Images/summers/plasmids.jpg • Fig 3:http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/kabernd/seminar/2002/method/gtwmeth/genegungtw.gif • Fig 6:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Making_of_a_DNA_vaccine.jpg • Fig. 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Antibody.svg • Fig. 5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Antigen_presentation.jpg • Fig. 7: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ICTVdb/ICTVdB/em_tmv.gif • Fig 8: http://www.technologyreview.com/files/8829/DNAVaccineBG.jpg
Most people have never thought twice about vaccines until the day they are faced with injecting a weakened virus with chemicals and known toxins into their baby.
Vaccine safety is one of the most controversial topics in today’s public discourse. Everyone has heard of them, but few know why they are so encouraged. A vaccine contains a weak or dead version of a microbe. This creates a small scale invasion of the immune system, which activates cells to destroy the microbe. Once these cells have been made they are always there to provide protection. This protection is immunity, for those cells are then able to recognize any live version of the same microbe and attack it immediately. This can save lives but also be dangerous, vaccines carry many other components which can cause side effects. These could be simple adverse effects such as a small cold or, in the rare case,
Eradication is the concept that a disease is entirely eliminated in a region. (Carter n.d.) Only one infectious disease to date, smallpox, has been categorized as eradicated worldwide (CDC 2010). How did this eradication occur? From 1958 to 1965 all fifty states enacted legislation to mandate school age children receive the small pox vaccine (College of Philadelphia). Consequently, by 1971, no small pox cases had been reported in the United States for 20 years. The last known smallpox case in the world was in Somalia in 1977 (CDC 2010). Even though small pox is the only listed eradicated disease, the Carter Foundation has listed six other diseases as having the potential to be eradicated: lymphatic filariasis (Elephantiasis), polio, measles, mumps, rubella, and pork tapeworm. In addition to these previous listed diseases are to date the following diseases which are considered preventable by vaccination: chicken pox, diphtheria, Haemohphilus Influenza type B, Hepatitis A and B, HPV, Influenza, Measles, Meningococcal Disease, Mumps, Pertusis, Pneumonia, Polio, Rotavirus, Rubella, Shingles, Smallpox, Tetanus, Yellow Fever, and STDs (Carter n.d.).
There have been many issues surrounding vaccinations all around the world. Vaccines are made with dangerous toxins that can cause disorders in many different people. Dr. Joseph says that almost all vaccines are made with immune adjuvant, which causes the immune system to react in a harmful way (qtd. in Garcia). Some serious side effects of the immune adjuvant include lowering of intellectual and sexual abilities and death in serious cases (Garcia). Also, in a recent study Mark Geier and David Geier found that thimerosal in vaccines is linked to neurodevelopment disorders, such as autism. They found...
Vaccines have been used to prevent diseases for centuries, and have saved countless lives of children and adults. The smallpox vaccine was invented as early as 1796, and since then the use of vaccines has continued to protect us from countless life threatening diseases such as polio, measles, and pertussis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) assures that vaccines are extensively tested by scientist to make sure they are effective and safe, and must receive the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before being used. “Perhaps the greatest success story in public health is the reduction of infectious diseases due to the use of vaccines” (CDC, 2010). Routine immunization has eliminated smallpox from the globe and led to the near removal of wild polio virus. Vaccines have reduced some preventable infectious diseases to an all-time low, and now few people experience the devastating effects of measles, pertussis, and other illnesses.
Mumps, Measles, Whooping Cough, Smallpox, Polio and, Diphtheria are all deadly diseases that were once a death sentence to children and adults around the world, but there is something that can help combat these fatal diseases. Vaccinations can change the course of these lethal diseases, but some families are still refusing to vaccinate the future of the world. Vaccinations can not only be beneficial to the child itself but to rest of humanity as well. There is evidence that goes against false claims bashing vaccination and the positive effects of vaccination overrule all of the negative. Vaccination can have a positive effect on the world due to its life-saving properties, effects on humanity and the extensive amount of safety and care that
diseases, many of which are deadly. Some people seem to think vaccine side effects can cause
With vaccines more abundant we can eradicate harmful disease like HPV, influenza, and Hepatitis. All treatable and yet still common among many communities in the United States. The only chance is providing people the necessary information and requiring mandated immunizations with no exempts in every state. Then maybe we can eradicate those diseases and permanently wipe them off worldwide like small-pox. Vaccines are safe and if we continue providing them we could eventually face disease like HIV and even some cancer that have not ever been able to treat in the future.
The question all parents have been chattering about, are vaccinations safe for their children? A vaccine is an injection of a killed or weakened infectious organism in order to prevent a disease. The injection works to stimulate the body's immune system so it can be recognized as foreign, then be destroyed, and "remembered" , so that the antibodies in the immune system can easily recognize and destroy any microorganisms that it later comes across. An antibody is a protein found in the blood. It is produced in response to foreign substances like viruses or bacteria, invading the body. Antibodies do the job of protecting the body from disease by clinging to these organisms and abolishing them.
Children are no longer vaccinated against smallpox because it no longer exists due to vaccinations. The last cases of smallpox in the United States were in 1984, and in the world was 1977 in Somalia. (Vaccines 5). Each year numbers of cases and deaths decrease, because of vaccinations. In the United States by 2012 most diseases were decreased by 99% because of vaccinations. (Vaccines 5). Getting children vaccinated helps protect them from diseases and helps elimate the disease from harming other people. The more people get vaccinated the more of a chance the diseases will no longer be a problem. For example smallpox was eradicated and children no longer have to be vaccinated for it, if people get their children vaccinated there is more of a chance that anothor disease will be eradicated.
(Jane C Finlay, Noni E MacDonald, 2001). Working with Vaccine -hesitant parents. Canadian Paediatric Society. Retrieved May 3, 2013, from http://www.cps.ca
For many years before the development of vaccines, it was known that after recovery from certain diseases some people would not become infected when exposed to it again. This course by which a person is protected from certain diseases after natural infection is termed active immunity. The person is protected since the immune system remembers the past infection and reacts quickly when it comes across the issue again. Yet, for diseases that can be life-threatening, attaining immunity in this way entails running the risk of death upon the first encounter. Even for non life-threatening diseases, a lot of infections carry a risk of grave complications after recovery and so it would be preferable to obtain immunity without taking unwarranted risks. Active immunity by way of vaccination presents a much safer alternative (Childhood Vaccinations: Understanding Vaccines, 2006).
The Use of Recombinant DNA Technology Recombinant DNA technology is the technology of preparing recombinant DNA in vitro by cutting up DNA molecules and splicing together fragments from more than one organism.(1) This is the process of using recombinant DNA technology to enable the rapid production of human protein from a single gene of insulin. Firstly the single gene required must be isolated. This can be done three ways: Either by working backwards from the protein- Finding the amino acid sequence for the protein needed, the order of bases can be established using known genetic code. New DNA can be made from this sequence of bases resulting in artificial gene made from complementary DNA.
“Childhood vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child's death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections.” (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 1). Vaccines helped humanity for many years in eliminating illnesses that disfigured, disabled and a lot of times took lives away. Children who do not get vaccinated not only risk themselves by being an easy target for diseases they also, harm everyone around them. In the end, today's children are the fuel of the future. Every parent should think carefully before taking any chance that may harm the coming generation.
It is understandable when a child cannot be vaccinated because they are either immunocompromised or allergic to the vaccine. These children cannot handle the living attenuated virus in the vaccine because they do not have the antibodies to defend their body from foreign bacteria or viruses. If the child is allergic to the vaccine it is reasonable why they cannot receive the vaccine. It is obvious why parents do not want to put their child’s health at risk.